BY 

C.A.HENTY 


UNIV.  OF  CALIF.  LIBRARY,  LOS  ANGELES 


WITH  COCHRANE  THE  DAUNTLESS 


THE   LIEUTENANT   TALKS   TO   STEVE   ABOUT   GOING   TO   SEA. 


WITH 

COCHRANE  THE   DAUNTLESS 

• 

A  TALE  OF 

THE    EXPLOITS    OF'  LORD    COCHRANE    IN 
SOUTH    AMERICAN    WATERS 


BY 

G.    A.    HENTY 

Author  of  "  Under  Drake's  Flag,"    "  The  Dash  for  Khartoum,"  "  In  Greek 
Waters,"  "  The  Lion  of  St.  Mark,"  "  Through  Russian  Snows,"  etc. 


WITH    TWELVE  ILLUSTRATIONS  BY   W,   H.   MARGETSON 


NEW  YORK 

CHARLES     SCRIBNER'S     SONS 


COPYRIGHT,  1896,  BY 
CHARLES  SCRIBNER'S  SONS 


TWOW  OWCTOHY 

IINTINO  AND  BOOKBINDINO  COMPANY 
KEW  YORK 


UNIV.  OF 


CALIF.  LIBRARY,  LOS  ANGELES 


Stack 
Annex 

PR 


PREFACE 

IN  the  annals  of  British  sailors  there  is  no  name  that  should 
stand  higher  than  that  of  Lord  Cochrane.  In  some  respects 
he  resembled  that  daring  leader  and  great  military  genius,  the 
Earl  of  Peterborough.  Both  performed  feats  that  most  men 
would  have  regarded  as  impossible,  both  possessed  extraordi- 
nary personal  bravery  and  exceptional  genius  for  war,  and  a 
love  for  adventure.  Both  accomplished  marvels,  and  neither 
was  appreciated  at  his  full  value  by  his  countrymen,  both 
having  a  touch  of  originality  that  amounted  in  the  case  of 
Peterborough  to  absolute  eccentricity.  In  other  respects  they 
had  little  in  common.  Cochrane'  s  life  was  passed  in  one  long 
struggle  on  behalf  of  the  oppressed.  He  ruined  his  career  in 
our  navy,  and  created  for  himself  a  host  of  bitter  enemies  by 
his  crusade  against  the  enormous  abuses  of  our  naval  adminis- 
tration, and  by  the  ardour  with  which  he  championed  the 
cause  of  reform  at  home.  Finding  the  English  navy  closed  to 
him  he  threw  himself  into  the  cause  of  oppressed  nationalities. 
His  valour  and  genius  saved  Chili  from  being  reconquered  by 
the  Spanish,  rescued  Peru  from  their  grasp,  and  utterly  broke 
their  power  in  South  America.  Similarly  he  crushed  the 
Portuguese  power  in  Brazil  and  ensured  its  independence, 
and  then  took  up  the  cause  of  Greece.  In  all  four  enter- 
prises his  efforts  were  hampered  by  the  utter  corruption  of  the 
governments  of  these  countries,  just  as  his  efforts  on  behalf  of 
British  sailors  and  of  the  British  people  at  large  had  brought 
upon  him  the  hatred  and  persecution  of  a  government  as  cor- 


VI  PREFACE 

rupt  as  those  of  Chili,  Brazil,  and  Greece.  He  was  rewarded 
only  with  the  basest  ingratitude,  and  returned  home  after  hav- 
ing expended  a  large  part  of  his  fortune  and  permanently  in- 
jured his  health  in  the  inestimable  services  he  had  rendered. 
In  other  respects  besides  those  exploits  connected  with  the 
sea,  his  genius  was  remarkable.  After  retiring  from  active 
service  he  devoted  himself  to  inventions,  and  some  of  these 
paved  the  way  to  later  scientific  achievements,  giving  him  a 
place  alongside  the  Marquis  of  Worcester. 

Of  Lord  Cochrane  it  can  be  said  that  he  was  the  victim  of 
his  generous  enthusiasm  for  the  oppressed.  During  the  greater 
portion  of  his  life  he  rested  under  a  heavy  cloud,  and  it  was 
only  in  extreme  old  age  that  he  had  the  satisfaction  of  having 
his  name  rehabilitated,  and  of  regaining  the  honours  and  rank 
of  which  he  had  been  so  unjustly  deprived. 

G.  A.  HENTY. 


CONTENTS 

CHAP.  PAGB 

I.    OFF  TO  SEA, n 

II.    IN  THE  MALAY  ARCHIPELAGO, 31 

III.  A  CYCLONE, 51 

IV.  A  RESCUE, 71 

V.    AGAIN  ON  THE  ISLAND, 92 

VI.     HOME, in 

VII.    COCHRANE'S  CAREER, 131 

VIII.    THE  BASQUE  ROADS, 149 

IX.     IN  CHILI, 162 

X.    WRECKED, 179 

XI.    A  DANGEROUS  COMPANION, 198 

XII.    DEATH  OF  THE  CAPTAIN, 217 

XIII.  PRIZE-MONEY, 235 

XIV.  A  PRISONER, 253 

XV.     FRIENDS  IN  NEED, . *— -~~r       ....  273 

XVI.     AN  INDIAN  GUIDE, 291 

XVII.  DOWN  THE  RIVER,       .        .        .        .        .        .        .  310 

XVIII.    CAPTURED  BY  INDIANS, 329 

XIX.     IN  BRAZIL,   . 347 

XX.    FRESH  TRIUMPHS, 369 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

THE   LIEUTENANT   TALKS  TO  STEVE   ABOUT    GOING  TO  SEA, 

Frontispiece,       1 1 

"WE  WENT    AT   THE   TREACHEROUS  MALAYS  WITH   A  WILL, 

AND  DROVE  THEM  BACK," 36 

STEPHEN  CRAWLS  TO  THE  RESCUE  OF  HIS  CHUM,  JOYCE,        .      90 

COCHRANE    SCATTERS    THE   FRENCH    FLEET    IN    THE   BASQUE 

ROADS  BY  HIS  TERRIBLE  EXPLOSION-SHIP,  .        .        .        .159 

"  THE  SHIP  FELL  WITH  A  CRASH  THAT  THREW  STEVE  AND 

THE  CAPTAIN  OFF  THEIR  FEET," 190 

"WITH    A    SHOUT,   STEPHEN   SNATCHED    UP  HIS   SWORD  AND 

RUSHED  AT  THE  ASSASSIN," 221 

STEPHEN  BEATS  OFF  THE  GREAT  WAR-CANOE  SINGLE-HANDED,  .     232 

STEPHEN  is  BOUND  AND  BROUGHT  BEFORE  THE  GOVERNOR  OF 

SAN  CARLOS, 269 

STEPHEN  MAKES  A  DASH  FOR  LIBERTY,  AND  GRAPPLES  WITH 

THE  GUARD,  .       .        .,   — ? . — "T~    .        .       .  282 

"THE  ANIMAL  WAS  ON  THE  POINT  OF  SPRINGING  WHEN  STE- 
PHEN FIRED," 311 

PITA  TRIES  STEPHEN'S  PLAN  IN  ORDER  TO  ESCAPE  FROM  THE 

WHIRLPOOL, 328 

"MY  DEAR  BOY,"  EXCLAIMED  LORD  COCHRANE,  "THANK  GOD 

INDEED  THAT  I  SEE  YOU  ALIVE," 371 


WITH  COCHRANE  THE  DAUNTLESS 


CHAPTER  I 

OFF   TO   SEA 

AM  sure  I  do  not  know  what  to  do  with  you, 
Steve,"  Lieutenant  Embleton  said  one  afternoon 
as  he  and  his  son  were  sitting  upon  a  bench  on 
the  cliff  at  Ramsgate,  looking  over  the  sea. 
"Upon  my  word  I  don't  see  my  way  at  all; 
this  peace  has  stranded  most  of  us,  and  at  any  rate,  so  far  as 
I  am  concerned,  there  is  not  a  ghost  of  a  chance  of  my  ob- 
taining employment — not  that  I  am  fit  for  it  if  I  could  get  it. 
I  have  been  nearly  ten  years  ashore.  Every  one  of  us  who 
sailed  under  Cochrane  have  been  marked  men  ever  since. 
However,  that  is  an  old  story,  and  it  is  no  use  grumbling 
over  what  cannot  be  helped ;  besides,  that  wound  in  my  hip 
has  been  troubling  me  a  good  deal  of  late,  and  I  know  I  am 
not  fit  for  sea.  I  don't  think  I  should  have  minded  so  much 
if  I  had  got  post  rank  before  being  laid  on  the  shelf.  The 
difference  of  pension,  too,  would  have  been  a  help,  for  good- 
ness knows  it  is  hard  work  making  ends  meet  on  a  lieutenant's 
half-pay.  However,  that  is  not  the  question  now.  The  thing 

II 


12  WITH   COCHRANE   THE   DAUNTLESS 

that  I  have  got  to  consider  is  what  is  the  best  thing  to  do  with 
you. 

"  Yes,  I  know  you  are  ready  to  do  anything,  lad,  and  it  is 
not  your  fault  that  you  are  not  in  harness ;  but,  in  the  first 
place,  I  found  it  hard  to  spare  you,  and  in  the  next,  I  wanted 
you  to  stick  to  your  books  as  long  as  you  could.  I  grant  there 
are  many  officers  even  in  His  Majesty's  service  who  are  as 
rough  as  if  they  had  come  in  through  the  hawse-hole,  but  it 
tells  against  them.  However,  as  you  are  past  fifteen,  I  think 
now  that  you  will  do ;  and  as  you  have  been  working  steadily 
with  me  for  the  past  four  years,  you  have  got  a  lot  into  your 
head  that  will  give  you  an  advantage  over  boys  sent  to  sea 
two  years  younger. 

"  You  are  well  up  in  navigation,  and  can  take  an  observa- 
tion as  well  as  any  old  sailor,  either  by  sun,  moon,  or  stars. 
You  can  steer  a  boat  in  heavy  weather,  and  knot  and  splice ; 
you  know  the  sails  and  ropes,  and  can  go  aloft  as  quickly  as  a 
monkey,  and  do  anything  that  your  strength  permits.  There 
have  been  plenty  of  opportunities  for  teaching  you  all  this  on 
short  coasting  voyages  and  on  board  ships  driven  in  here  by 
stress  of  weather.  I  suppose,  Steve,  however  much  we  may 
talk  of  other  professions,  it  comes  to  the  sea  at  last.  I  know 
that  you  have  always  wanted  it,  but  if  I  could  have  seen  any 
opening  for  you  on  land  I  would  rather  that  you  had  taken  to 
it  than  have  gone  afloat.  You  see  what  it  has  done  for  me, 
lad.  It  is  a  poor  trade,  though  as  long  as  it's  war-time  there 
is  excitement  enough  to  make  up  for  the  shortness  of  the  pay. 
However,  as  I  have  told  you  many  a  time,  there  is  no  chance 
whatever  of  my  getting  you  a  midshipman's  berth. 

"  I  have  not  the  slightest  influence  at  the  admiralty,  and  the 
navy  has  been  so  reduced  since  the  war  ended  that  they  must 
have  fifty  applications  for  every  vacancy;  besides,  now  that 
there  is  no  fighting  to  be  done,  I  don't  know  that  the  merchant 


OFF   TO    SEA  13 

service  isn't  the  best,  for  it  is  dull  work  indeed  being  years  on 
a  station  when  there  is  no  chance  of  a  brush  with  an  enemy  or 
the  capture  of  a  prize.  In  the  merchant  service  you  can  have 
at  least  a  change,  and  a  smart  young  fellow  who  knows  his 
business  and  has  gentlemanly  manners,  has  much  better  chances 
of  coming  to  the  front  than  he  would  have  in  the  royal  navy. 
So  I  think  the  time  has  come  when  I  must  bring  myself  to 
make  a  move  in  the  matter. ' ' 

"  Thank  you,  father ;  I  know  very  well  that  in  studying  with 
you  I  have  learned  a  lot  more  than  I  should  have  done  if  I 
had  gone  to  sea  two  years  ago ;  but  I  do  want  to  be  working 
and  earning  something,  instead  of  being  an  expense  to  you, 
and,  as  you  know,  I  would  prefer  the  sea  to  anything  else." 

"  It  is  Hobson's  choice,  lad ;  it  is  the  sea  or  nothing.  And 
after  all,  I  think  the  mercantile  navy  is  as  good  a  profession 
as  a  lad  can  take  to,  that  is  if  he  has  no  influence  to  back  him 
on  shore.  I  wrote  a  fortnight  ago  to  a  friend  in  London. 
He  is  the  owner  of  four  or  five  vessels,  and  it  happened,  a 
good  many  years  ago  now,  that  I  recaptured  one  of  them  with 
a  valuable  cargo  that  had  been  taken  by  a  French  privateer. 
I  was  sent  home  in  her,  and  when  he  came  down  to  Plym- 
outh, where  I  took  her  in,  we  became  great  friends.  We 
were  about  the  same  age,  and  the  loss  at  that  time  would 
have  been  a  very  serious  one  to  him.  I  stayed  with  him  once 
or  twice  when  I  was  in  town.  I  have  not  seen  him  for  some 
years  now — one  cannot  afford  to  run  about  on  a  lieutenant's 
half-pay — but  I  remembered  him  the  other  day  when  I  was 
thinking  things  over  in  every  light,  and  wrote  to  him.  I  told 
him  how  we  were  situated,  and  asked  him  if  he  would  put 
you  on  board  one  of  his  ships,  and  this  morning  I  had  an 
answer  from  him  saying  that  he  would  gladly  do  so.  He 
said  that  he  would  take  you  as  an  apprentice  without  fees, 
and  that  at  any  time,  should  anything  better  turn  up,  or  you 


14  \VITH    COCHRANE    THE    DAUNTLESS 

see  your  way  to  getting  into  a  firm  with  a  larger  fleet  and 
better  chance  of  advancement,  he  would  cancel  your  indent- 
ures. No  kinder  offer  could  be  made,  and  if  you  are  willing 
I  will  write  this  evening  to  accept  the  offer,  and  tell  him  that 
I  will  go  up  with  you  in  the  hoy  directly  I  hear  from  him 
that  you  are  wanted." 

"  Thank  you  very  much,  father;  I  am  awfully  glad  that  it 
can  be  managed  without  expense,  though  I  should  be  quite 
willing  to  go  before  the  mast  and  work  my  way  up. ' ' 

"  I  know  you  would,  Steve,  but  it  is  much  better  to  start 
fair,  for  ship-owners  prefer  to  take  a  young  mate  who  has 
regularly  served  as  an  apprentice  than  a  man  who  has  only 
been  trained  before  the  mast;  for  although  the  latter  may 
have  picked  up  enough  to  scrape  through  his  examination,  he 
is  rarely  a  good  navigator,  and  works  out  his  reckoning  by 
rule  of  thumb,  which  is  all  very  well  as  long  as  the  weather  is 
fine  and  he  can  get  his  observation  at  noon,  but  breaks  down 
directly  it  comes  to  having  to  depend  upon  a  glimpse  of  the 
moon  through  the  clouds,  or  the  chance  of  getting  a  star." 

Lieutenant  Embleton  had  been  a  dashing  and  gallant  officer, 
but  his  career  in  the  service  had  been  ruined  by  the  fact  that 
he  had  served  under  Lord  Cochrane,  both  in  the  Pallas,  the 
Imperieuse,  and  the  Speedy.  The  latter  was  a  little  sloop 
mounting  fourteen  four-pounder  guns,  in  which  not  only  did 
Lord  Cochrane  capture  many  gun-boats  and  merchantmen, 
but  on  the  6th  of  May,  1801,  he  took  the  Gamo,  a  Spanish 
frigate,  carrying  six  times  as  many  men  as  the  Speedy  and 
seven  times  her  weight  of  shot,  an  exploit  that  so  aroused  the 
jealousy  of  Earl  St.  Vincent  that  for  a  long  time  Lord  Coch- 
rane could  not  obtain  employment.  Three  years  later,  when 
Lord  Melville  succeeded  St.  Vincent  as  first  lord  of  the  ad- 
miralty, Lord  Cochrane  was  appointed  to  the  Pallas,  in 
which  he  again  did  excellent  service ;  and  distinguished  him- 


OFF   TO    SEA  15 

self  still  more  when,  in  the  Imperieuse,  he  attacked  the  whole 
French  fleet  in  the  Basque  Roads,  driving  three  or  four  of 
their  battle-ships  ashore,  capturing  three  others,  and  compel- 
ling the  rest  to  take  to  flight. 

But  the  honour  and  popular  applause  gained  by  Lord 
Cochrane  was,  in  the  opinion  of  the  authorities,  more  than 
neutralized  by  his  fearless  exposure,  from  his  place  in  Parlia- 
ment, where  he  sat  as  one  of  the  members  for  Westminster, 
of  the  scandalous  abuses  then  prevailing  in  the  navy.  All 
attempts  to  silence  him  by  the  offers  of  valuable  appointments 
being  in  vain,  Lord  Cochrane  was  subjected  to  a  persecution 
altogether  without  precedent  in  parliamentary  history.  In  the 
court-martial  which  was  held  upon  Lord  Gambier  for  his 
failure  to  assist  Cochrane  in  the  action  in  the  Basque  Roads, 
the  admiralty  went  so  far  as  to  forge  charts,  and  so  to  show 
that  the  admiral  could  not  come  to  Cochrane's  assistance,  and 
Gambier  was  not  only  acquitted,  but  received  a  vote  of  thanks 
from  the  House  of  Commons  for  the  victory  in  which  he  had 
taken  no  part.  For  four  years  Lord  Cochrane  received  no 
appointment,  but  at  the  close  of  1813  his  uncle,  Sir  Alex- 
ander Cochrane,  was  selected  for  the  command  of  the  fleet  on 
the  North  American  station,  and  nominated  Cochrane  his  flag 
captain,  an  appointment  resting  entirely  with  him,  and  with 
which  government  could  not  interfere. 

He  did  not,  however,  sail,  for  just  as  he  was  about  to  em- 
bark, a  relation,  who  was  engaged  in  stock  exchange  opera- 
tions in  conjunction  with  a  foreign  adventurer,  carried  out 
some  dishonest  transactions,  those  who  were  his  dupes  believ- 
ing that  he  was  acting  under  information  obtained  from  Lord 
Cochrane.  As  soon  as  the  latter  heard  a  report  of  the  affair 
he  left  his  ship,  came  up  to  London,  and  demanded  an  inves- 
tigation. Then  followed  one  of  the  most  disgraceful  parodies 
of  justice  ever  performed  in  this  country.  Lord  Cochrane 


16  WITH    COCHRANE   THE    DAUNTLESS 

was  arrested,  tried,  and  by  means  of  a  partisan  judge,  false 
evidence,  and  measures  more  unscrupulous  even  than  those  of 
Judge  Jeffreys,  convicted  and  sentenced  to  imprisonment.  A 
servile  House  of  Commons  obeyed  the  orders  of  ministers  to 
expel  him  from  their  body.  His  name  was  struck  off  the 
order  of  the  Bath,  and  his  insignia  torn  down  from  St. 
George's  Chapel  with  every  mark  of  indignity. 

Public  indignation  at  the  disgraceful  means  that  had  been 
taken  to  secure  his  conviction  rose  to  such  a  height,  that  it 
was  only  by  the  persuasions  of  Lord  Cochrane's  friends  that 
a  riot  was  prevented.  The  citizens  of  Westminster  at  once 
re-elected  him  as  their  member,  no  one  venturing  to  oppose 
him.  After  remaining  in  prison  for  some  months  he  effected 
his  escape  and  presented  himself  in  the  House  of  Commons. 
He  was  seized  and  carried  back  to  prison,  where  he  was 
thrown  into  a  dungeon,  and  there  kept  until  his  health  so 
suffered  that  his  persecutors,  fearing  that  fatal  consequences 
would  ensue,  were  obliged  to  place  him  in  more  wholesome 
quarters.  Here  he  remained  until  the  conclusion  of  his  year's 
sentence.  He  then  paid  the  fine  of  a  thousand  pounds,  to 
which  he  had  also  been  sentenced,  and  on  the  very  day  of 
his  release  from  prison  took  his  place  in  the  House  of  Com- 
mons, and  resumed  his  work  as  one  of  the  leaders  of  the  re- 
form party. 

Eighteen  months  later  he  was  subjected  to  fresh  persecu- 
tion, and  was  tried  for  his  escape  from  prison  and  fined  a 
hundred  pounds.  A  penny  subscription  was  at  once  started, 
and  eleven  hundred  pounds  collected  in  this  way,  afforded  a 
signal  proof  of  the  intensity  of  the  feeling  in  his  favour.  This 
sum  was  used  to  pay  the  fine,  and  to  reimburse  him  for  the 
former  fine  to  which  he  had  been  subjected.  All  Lord 
Cochrane's  efforts  to  obtain  a  new  trial,  or  an  expression  of 
an  opinion  from  the  House  as  to  the  illegality  of  the  proceed- 


OFF    TO    SEA  17 

ings  of  his  judge,  Lord  Ellenborough,  were  ineffective,  the 
House,  on  each  occasion  when  he  brought  the  matter  forward, 
obeying  the  orders  of  ministers  and  voting  against  his  motions 
by  an  overwhelming  majority.  He  had,  however,  the  satis- 
faction of  knowing  that  the  nation  at  large  was  heartily  with 
him,  and  recognised  the  gross  injustice  from  which  he  had 
been  a  sufferer. 

The  hostility  upon  the  part  of  the  admiralty  and  govern- 
ment extended  to  those  who  had  borne  part  in  his  glorious 
exploits  at  sea,  and  Lieutenant  Embleton  was  put  on  half-pay 
after  the  action  of  the  Imperieuse  against  the  French  fleet,  and 
found  himself  without  any  prospect  of  future  employment,  and 
without  even  a  chance  of  obtaining  a  nomination  for  his  son 
to  a  midshipman's  berth.  The  blow  was  at  first  a  very  keen 
one,  but  it  was  less  bitterly  felt  after  the  conclusion  of  peace 
and  the  great  reduction  of  the  navy,  as  his  fate  was  only  that 
of  thousands  of  other  officers ;  and  he  had  now  come  to  feel 
that  the  effects  of  his  wound,  for  which  he  received  a  small 
addition  to  his  half-pay,  rendered  him  unfit  for  further  ser- 
vice, even  could  he  have  obtained  an  appointment.  He  had, 
since  leaving  the  navy,  lived  in  a  little  cottage  at  Ramsgate, 
where  from  his  garden  he  could  obtain  a  view  of  the  sea  and 
the  passing  ships.  The  education  of  his  son  afforded  him 
employment  for  some  hours  a  day.  His  favourite  position 
was  on  a  bench  in  the  garden,  from  which  he  could  watch 
through  a  telescope  mounted  on  a  tripod  the  passing  ships, 
criticise  the  state  of  their  rigging  and  sails,  and  form  conjec- 
tures as  to  their  destination. 

It  was  a  great  pang  to  him  to  part  with  Stephen,  but  he  felt 
that  he  could  no  longer  keep  him  by  his  side ;  and  he  was 
sure  that  the  careful  training  he  had  given  him  in  all  nautical 
matters  would  enable  the  lad  to  make  his  way  in  the  mercan- 
tile navy.  A  fortnight  after  his  conversation  with  Steve,  the 


18  WITH    COCHRANE   THE    DAUNTLESS 

lieutenant  received  a  letter  from  his  friend  in  London,  saying 
that  one  of  his  ships  that  had  returned  a  fortnight  before  was 
now  unloaded,  and  would  at  once  begin  to  fit  out  for  a  fresh 
voyage,  and  it  would  be  therefore  as  well  for  him  to  bring 
Stephen  up,  so  that  he  might  have  the  advantage  of  seeing  the 
whole  process  of  preparing  a  ship  for  sea.  He  gave  a  warm 
invitation  to  Lieutenant  Embleton  to  stay  with  him  for  a 
week  or  two,  and  on  the  following  day  father  and  son  went 
on  board  a  Ramsgate  hoy,  and  thirty-six  hours  later  arrived 
in  the  port  of  London.  They  were  warmly  received  by  Mr. 
Hewson. 

"  I  think  your  boy  is  fortunate  that  the  Tiger  should  be 
the  first  ship  he  will  sail  in,"  he  said  that  evening.  "  I  regard 
the  captain  as  my  best  officer.  He  is  a  good  seaman  and  a 
capital  navigator,  and  he  is  of  a  most  kindly  disposition ; 
therefore,  I  can  put  the  boy  under  him  with  the  certainty 
that  he  will  be  well  treated  and  cared  for.  In  the  next 
place,  the  Tiger  does  not,  like  my  other  ships,  make  regular 
voyages  to  and  from  a  foreign  port,  but  carries  on  the  business 
of  a  trader  among  the  East  Indian  islands.  It  is  not  every 
one  to  whom  such  a  business  could  be  safely  intrusted ;  but  I 
have  great  confidence  in  Captain  Finder.  He  is  a  good  man 
of  business,  thoroughly  conscientious,  and  accustomed  to  the 
ways  of  the  treacherous  natives  of  those  islands.  The  Tiger 
is  more  heavily  armed  than  usual,  and  has  more  than  once 
beaten  off  the  attacks  of  their  piratical  craft,  and  there  is  no 
fear  of  Finder's  being  caught  napping. 

"  She  will  in  the  first  place  take  a  cargo  to  Calcutta,  re- 
serving a  portion  of  her  hold  for  my  goods  for  trading  among 
the  islands.  When  she  has  landed  her  freight  at  Calcutta  she 
will  cruise  in  the  Archipelago  for  some  months,  as  long,  in 
fact,  as  Finder  finds  that  he  can  carry  on  a  really  good  busi- 
ness with  the  natives.  Then  she  will  return  to  Calcutta  and 


OFF    TO    SEA  19 

fill  up  with  freight  for  her  return  voyage.  Thus,  you  see, 
your  boy  will  gain  a  good  deal  of  varied  experience,  and  will 
see,  perhaps,  as  much  adventure  and  excitement  as  he  would 
meet  with  in  a  score  of  ordinary  voyages,  and  will  have  the 
advantage  of  being  under  a  kind  commander,  who  will  in- 
struct him  in  the  rudiments  of  navigation." 

"  Nothing  could  be  better,"  Mr.  Embleton  said  warmly. 
"  It  is  the  voyage  of  all  others  that  would  be  to  the  boy's  taste, 
and  I  shall  be  satisfied  indeed  at  his  being  in  such  good 
hands.  As  to  navigation,  it  is  practice  only  that  he  wants. 
I  have  taught  him  all  that  I  know  myself,  and  he  can  take  a 
lunar,  or  work  his  reckoning  out  from  a  star  observation,  as 
accurately  as  I  could  do  it  myself." 

"Is  that  so,  Mr.  Embleton?  I  am  glad  indeed  to  hear 
it.  Then  there  is  no  doubt  about  the  future  of  your  boy,  if 
he  is  steady  and  industrious.  I  am  pleased  to  hear  it  for  my 
own  sake,  if  for  nothing  else;  for  although  Finder's  mates 
are  capital  sailors,  and  in  all  other  respects  able  officers,  they 
are  not  men  of  Finder's  type.  They  can  take,  of  course,  a 
rough  observation  at  noon,  and  work  it  out  by  rule  of 
thumb  and  the  aid  of  tables,  but  beyond  that  they  can  do 
nothing.  They  have  not  received  the  education  to  enable 
them  to  grapple  with  mathematical  problems,  even  of  the 
simplest  kind  ;  and  although,  in  case  of  Finder  falling  sick, 
they  might  manage  under  favourable  circumstances  to  bring 
the  ship  home,  they  would  fare  very  badly  if  they  had  a  long 
spell  of  bad  weather  and  could  not  get  an  observation  at  noon 
for  days  or  even  weeks  together.  It  will  be  a  satisfaction  to 
me  to  know  that  in  case  of  anything  happening  to  the  cap- 
tain there  is  someone  on  board  who  could,  in  such  a  case,  take 
a  lunar  or  shoot  a  star.  Well,  to-morrow  morning  we  will  go 
down  to  the  docks,  and  I  will  hand  your  boy  over  to  Finder. 
I  should,  of  course,  be  very  glad  to  have  him  here,  but  I 


20  WITH    COCHRANE   THE   DAUNTLESS 

think  it  is  of  great  advantage  to  a  boy  to  see  everything  done 
from  the  first  step.  She  is  going  to  have  an  entirely  new  fit- 
out  both  of  standing  and  running  rigging,  so  she  has  been 
stripped  entirely,  and  has  nothing  but  her  three  lower  masts 
above  the  deck. ' ' 

Accordingly,  after  breakfast  next  day  Mr.  Hewson  sent 
for  a  hackney-coach  and  they  drove  down  to  the  docks. 

"That  is  the  Tiger,"  Mr.  Hewson  said  as  he  stopped  at 
the  side  of  a  fine  craft.  "  She  is  six  hundred  tons,  three 
years  old,  and  a  fast  sailer.  She  is  not  much  to  look  at  at 
present,  but  when  she  is  in  full  dress  she  is  a  handsome 
vessel. ' ' 

"  She  looks  fast,"  Mr.  Embleton  said.  "  And  for  myself, 
I  would  rather  command  a  craft  of  that  size  than  one  of 
greater  tonnage." 

The  Tiger  at  present  certainly  did  not  show  to  advan- 
tage. Her  deck  was  begrimed  with  dirt.  A  body  of  riggers 
were  at  work  in  parcelling  and  serving  with  spun-yarn  the 
eyes  of  the  shrouds.  An  officer  in  a  rough  canvas  suit  was 
superintending  the  work. 

"That  is  Mr.  Staines,  the  first  mate,"  Mr.  Hewson  said. 
"  He  would  not  be  happy  if  he  was  not  on  board  from  the 
very  first  hour  that  the  riggers  were  beginning  their  work. 
Good  morning,  Mr.  Staines!"  he  went  on,  raising  his 
voice.  "  Is  Captain  Finder  on  board  ?  " 

"Yes,  sir,"  the  mate  said,  touching  his  cap,  and  then 
went  aft  to  the  poop-cabin,  from  which  the  captain  came  out 
as  his  visitor  stepped  on  board.  He  also  was  in  a  working 
suit. 

"  Good  morning,  Mr.  Hewson  !  "  he  said.  "  We  are  all 
in  the  rough,  you  see.  One  hardly  expects  visitors  on  her 
first  day  of  fitting  out. ' ' 

"  We  all  know  that,  captain.    This  is  Lieutenant  Embleton 


OFF   TO   SEA  21 

of  the  royal  navy,  and  this  is  his  son,  of  whom  I  was  speaking 
to  you  two  days  ago. ' ' 

"  I  am  glad  to  meet  you,  sir,"  the  captain  said,  shaking 
hands  with  Mr.  Embleton.  "  Every  sailor  knows  you  by 
reputation  as  being  one  of  Lord  Cochrane's  officers.  It  will 
be  a  pleasure  to  me  to  do  all  I  can  for  your  son.^' 

"  You  will  find  him  very  different  to  most  of  your  appren- 
tices, Finder.  He  has  had  the  advantage  of  his  father's 
teaching,  and,  theoretically  at  any  rate,  he  is  already  well  up 
in  his  work.  When  I  tell  you  that  he  can  take  a  lunar,  or  an 
observation  from  a  star,  you  may  imagine  that  he  will  not  re- 
quire much  teaching  in  navigation." 

"  I  am  glad  indeed  to  hear  it,  Mr.  Hewson — heartily  glad  ; 
there  ought  to  be  two  men  on  board  a  ship  who  can  do  that, 
for  there  is  never  any  saying  what  might  happen  if  there  is 
only  one.  It  has  made  me  anxious  many  a  time,  when  we 
had  a  bad  spell  of  weather,  as  to  how  the  Tiger  would  get  on 
if  I  happened  to  be  washed  overboard  by  a  sea  or  killed  by  a 
falling  spar.  Well,  Master  Embleton,  I  can  see  that  I  shall 
have  no  difficulty  in  making  a  first-rate  sailor  of  you.  Have 
you  come  to  stay  ?  ' ' 

"Yes,  sir.  My  father  thought  it  would  be  good  for  me 
to  be  on  board  from  the  time  the  fitting-out  began." 

"  Quite  right,  lad.  You  will  then  learn  as  much  in  a  fort- 
night as  you  would  in  a  year  at  sea.  I  always  make  a  point 
of  being  here  myself,  and  my  first  officer  wouldn't  allow  any- 
thing to  prevent  his  seeing  that  everything  was  right  from  first 
to  last.  But  I  don't  think  that  you  will  be  able  to  sleep  on 
board  for  the  next  fortnight." 

"  Of  course  not,"  Mr.  Embleton  said.  "  I  intend  to  take 
a  lodging  for  him  as  close  to  the  dock-gate  as  I  can.  Perhaps 
you  may  know  of  a  tidy  place. ' ' 

"  He  can't  do  better  than  lodge  with  us,"  the  captain  said. 


22  WITH    COCHRANE    THE   DAUNTLESS 

"  Mr.  Staines  and  I  always  put  up  at  the  same  place.  We 
give  them  notice  when  we  are  going  to  begin  to  fit  out,  and 
they  keep  the  rooms  for  us.  We  both  slept  there  last  night. 
The  house  is  kept  by  a  nice  clean  woman,  the  widow  of  a 
skipper  who  twas  lost  with  his  craft  about  ten  years  ago.  I 
have  no  doubt  she  can  put  the  lad  up  too,  and  he  can  mess 
with  us.  I  will  go  round  with  him  myself;  till  we  get  the 
shrouds  up,  one  is  quite  enough  to  look  after  the  riggers. ' ' 

"I  thank  you  very  much,  captain.  That  will  be  in  all 
respects  more  pleasant  for  the  boy  than  lodging  by  him- 
self." 

The  matter  was  speedily  arranged.  Mr.  Embleton  then 
took  Stephen  to  a  clothing  shop  and  bought  him  two  suits  of 
rough  canvas. 

"  You  will  find  it  dirty  work,  Steve.  There  is  no  keeping 
free  of  the  tar.  By  the  way,  Captain  Finder,  I  have  not 
ordered  Steve's  outfit  yet,  for  I  know  that  on  some  lines  the 
apprentices  dress  like  midshipmen,  on  others  they  don't;  so  I 
put  it  off  until  I  saw  you." 

"  I  always  like  the  apprentices  on  board  my  ship  to  be 
dressed  as  midshipmen,"  the  captain  replied.  "There  will 
only  be  three  on  board  as  far  as  I  know.  I  make  a  point  of 
messing  with  my  officers,  and  if  there  are  only  two  or  three 
apprentices  on  board  they  take  their  meals  with  us,  it  does 
them  good ;  and  I  don't  at  all  approve  of  their  mixing  with 
the  men  forward.  I  should  say,  Mr.  Embleton,  get  him  one 
good  suit  for  going  ashore,  another  rougher  suit  for  duty  on 
board,  half-a-dozen  duck  suits  for  the  tropics,  and  two  or  three 
suits  of  dungaree  for  slipping  on  over  the  others  when  there 
is  dirty  work  to  be  done.  The  cap  is  sufficient  to  indicate 
the  officer.  As  for  the  rest  of  his  outfit,  your  own  experience 
will  tell  you  what  is  needed.  Railton  in  Leadenhall  Street  is 
a  man  I  can  recommend.  He  keeps  the  house  badges  for  the 


OFF    TO    SEA  23 

caps,  and  turns  out  his  work  well.  I  generally  get  my  togs 
there,  and  find  him  as  cheap  as  anyone. ' ' 

"  Thank  you  !  I  will  take  Steve  with  me  as  far  as  that  in 
the  hackney-coach,  and  get  him  measured.  Then  he  can  be 
back  here  again  by  the  time  you  knock  off  for  dinner,  and  will 
then  put  on  his  slops  and  get  to  work." 

Steve  returned  to  the  lodgings  just  as  the  captain  and  first 
mate  came  in  to  dinner.  Then  he  carried  one  of  his  canvas 
suits  down  to  the  ship,  put  it  on,  and  was  soon  at  work  having 
his  first  lesson  in  seizing  ropes.  For  a  fortnight  the  work  con- 
tinued, and  Stephen  greatly  pleased  the  captain  and  first  mate 
by  his  attention  and  willingness,  working  all  the  time  as  a 
rigger's  boy,  and  paying  the  greatest  attention  to  all  the 
minutiae  of  the  work.  Saturday  afternoons  and  Sundays  he 
spent  at  Mr.  Hewson's,  where  his  father  was  still  staying,  his 
host  refusing  to  listen  to  any  talk  of  his  leaving  until  the  Tiger 
sailed.  Another  four  days  were  spent  in  planing  decks  and 
painting  inside  and  out.  The  work  was  scarcely  finished  when 
the  cargo  began  to  come  on  board.  As  soon  as  this  was  the 
case,  the  second  and  third  mates  and  the  other  two  appren- 
tices joined.  Like  Mr.  Staines,  Towel  and  Pasley,  the  second 
and  third  mates,  had  both  made  their  way  up  from  the  fore- 
castle ;  both  were  active  young  men  and  good  sailors,  who  had 
laboriously  mastered  the  very  small  amount  of  bookwork  that 
was  needed,  in  addition  to  practical  seamanship,  to  pass  their 
examinations,  but  who,  like  the  majority  of  their  class  of  that 
time,  knew  nothing  of  navigation  beyond  taking  a  rough  obser- 
vation at  mid-day  and  working  it  out  by  rule  of  thumb  on  the 
tables.  Mr.  Staines  presented  Stephen  to  them. 

"This  is  our  new  apprentice,"  he  said;  "  his  father  is  a 
lieutenant  in  the  royal  navy,  one  of  Lord  Cochrane's  men,  and 
a  great  friend  of  the  owner.  Stephen  Embleton  is  the  lad's 
name,  and  some  day  he  will  make  a  fine  officer.  He  has  been 


24  WITH    COCHRANE   THE   DAUNTLESS 

at  work  here  since  the  morning  the  riggers  came  on  board, 
and  is  not  afraid  to  put  his  hands  into  the  tar-pot,  as  you  can 
see  from  his  appearance.  He  has  learned  a  lot  from  his  father, 
so  we  won't  have  the  trouble  with  him  we  generally  do  have 
with  Johnny-raws." 

"  That  is  right,  youngster,"  the  second  mate  said  heartily ; 
"  if  you  will  learn  anywhere,  you  will  learn  here,  for  a  better 
captain  never  commanded  a  ship.  No  passengers,  I  hope, 
Staines?" 

"  No  ;  I  believe  that  the  skipper  has  had  two  or  three  appli- 
cations, but  although  the  owner  has  no  objection  to  his  tak- 
ing them,  he  considers  the  trouble  is  more  than  they  are 
worth.  Of  course,  he  would  make  something  out  of  their 
passage,  but  there  would,  almost  certainly,  be  some  cantan- 
kerous beggars  among  them,  and  of  course  the  table  costs  a 
good  deal  more  when  there  are  passengers,  especially  as  he 
will  have  the  apprentices  to  mess  with  him.  I  am  sure  I  am 
glad,  indeed,  that  we  sha'n't  be  bothered  with  them." 

The  other  two  apprentices  were  about  Stephen's  age.  Both 
had  made  one  trip  in  the  Tiger,  and  were  at  first  a  little 
inclined  to  patronize  the  new-comer.  The  day  before  the 
Tiger  hauled  out  into  the  river,  the  owner  and  Mr.  Embleton 
came  down  to  look  over  her.  Great  was  the  change  that  three 
weeks  had  made  in  her  appearance.  Her  deck  was  beautifully 
white,  the  lofty  spars  well  scraped  and  freshly  varnished,  and 
the  network  of  new  rigging  set  her  off  to  the  greatest  advan- 
tage. The  new  suit  of  sails  were  all  bent,  and  lay  loose  in 
their  gaskets  ready  for  dropping.  Four  guns  were  ranged 
along  either  side. 

"  She  is  a  handsome  craft  indeed,"  Mr.  Embleton  said  as 
he  stood  on  the  wharf  alongside,  taking  in  every  detail  of  her 
outfit  with  the  eye  of  a  seaman.  ' '  What  are  the  guns — twelve- 
pounders  ? ' ' 


OFF   TO   SEA  25 

"  Yes,  but  there  is  a  long  eighteen  down  in  the  hold,  which 
will  be  mounted  as  a  pivot  as  soon  as  she  gets  among  the 
islands.  The  others  are  well  enough  when  you  come  to  close 
quarters,  but  the  long  gun  generally  keeps  the  pirates  from 
getting  there;  they  don't  like  being  peppered  before  they 
come  within  fighting  distance.  I  believe  the  captain  would 
rather  part  with  all  the  other  guns  than  sail  without  Long 
Tom." 

"That  I  would,"  Captain  Finder,  who  had  just  joined, 
remarked.  "  Five  times  has  the  pivot-gun  made  them  sheer 
off  without  venturing  to  come  to  close  quarters ;  and,  indeed, 
I  have  never  had  to  loose  the  broadside  guns  but  three  times, 
in  each  of  which  they  came  suddenly  round  the  corner  into  a 
bay  where  we  were  lying  at  anchor." 

As  they  had  had  notice  of  the  owner's  intention  to  come 
down,  the  officers  were  all  in  their  new  uniforms,  and  after 
Captain  Finder  had  shown  his  guests  round  the  ship,  they  sat 
down  together  to  dinner  in  the  cabin. 

"You  have  plenty  of  freeboard,  I  see,"  Mr.  Embleton 
said,  as,  after  returning  on  deck,  he  looked  over  the  side. 

"  Yes,  I  never  will  load  down  my  ships,"  Mr.  Hewson 
said,  "  and  will  never  take  cargo  within  twenty  per  cent,  of 
their  full  carrying  power.  I  have  as  little  as  possible  stowed 
either  quite  forward  or  quite  aft,  so  that  they  have  not  only 
plenty  of  freeboard,  but  are  buoyant  in  a  heavy  sea.  I  am 
sure  it  pays.  I  don't  insure  my  ships,  and  I  have  not  lost 
one  in  the  last  sixteen  years.  The  insurance  money  saved 
makes  up  for  the  loss  of  freight,  and  I  have  the  satisfaction  of 
knowing  that  I  have  done  all  in  my  power  to  insure  the  safety 
of  my  officers  and  men." 

"And  very  good  policy,  Hewson,"  Mr.  Embleton  said 
warmly.  "  I  see  scores  of  ships  passing  inside  the  Goodwins 
so  loaded  down  that  I  would  not  be  on  board  in  a  heavy  gale 


26  WITH  COCHRANE  THE  DAUNTLESS 

for  all  the  money  in  the  bank,  and  the  state  of  their  sails  often 
shows  that  they  are  badly  cared  for  in  all  other  respects.  The 
system  of  insurance  is  no  doubt  a  good  one,  but  it  has  been 
so  scandalously  abused  that  it  may  safely  be  said  that  it  has 
largely  increased  the  annual  number  of  wrecks  and  loss  of  life. 
Were  it  not  for  insurance,  owners  would,  in  their  own  interest, 
be  driven  to  see  that  their  ships  were  made  in  every  respect 
seaworthy,  well  provided  with  gear  of  all  kinds,  well  manned, 
and  above  all,  not  overloaded.  Insurances  are  responsible 
for  a  large  proportion  of  our  marine  disasters. ' ' 

As,  if  the  wind  continued  favourable,  the  Tiger  would  drop 
down  the  river  as  soon  as  she  got  out  of  dock,  which  would 
be  at  a  very  early  hour  the  next  morning,  it  was  necessary 
that  Stephen  should  be  on  board  that  evening.  He,  how- 
ever, went  back  with  his  father  to  Mr.  Hewson's,  spent  the 
afternoon  at  Exeter  'Change  seeing  the  wild  beasts,  and  re- 
turned by  eight  o'clock  to  the  ship. 

The  Tiger  made  a  quick  voyage  to  Calcutta.  She  rounded 
the  Cape  without  encountering  bad  weather,  and  was  only 
twice  obliged  to  shorten  sail  during  the  whole  passage. 
Stephen  enjoyed  his  life  exceedingly.  He  was  in  the  first 
officer's  watch,  and  became  a  great  favourite  with  Mr.  Staines. 
He  astonished  his  fellow -apprentices,  as  soon  as  they  were 
fairly  on  their  way,  by  producing  his  quadrant  and  taking 
observations  at  the  same  time  as  did  the  captain  and  mates ; 
still  more  so  when  he  took  lunar  and  star  observations,  work- 
ing them  all  out  by  figures  instead  of  from  the  tables  in  the 
nautical  almanac.  He  found  at  first  some  little  difficulty  in 
obtaining  accuracy  when  the  vessel  was  rolling,  but  he  was 
not  long  in  overcoming  this,  and  the  captain  found  that  he 
was  able  to  place  the  ship's  position  on  the  chart  quite  as  cor- 
rectly as  he  did  himself. 

"  I  would  give  a  lot,  Steve,"  the  first  mate  said,  when  they 


OFF  TO    SEA  27 

had  been  out  a  fortnight,  "  if  I  could  work  things  out  as  you 
do.  I  have  gone  over  and  over  again  to  fellows  who  advertise 
that  they  teach  navigation,  but  it  is  of  no  use,  I  can't  make 
head  or  tail  of  all  the  letters  and  zigzigs  and  things.  I  have 
tried  and  I  have  tried  till  my  head  ached,  but  the  more  I 
study  it  the  more  fogged  I  get  about  it.  There  does  not 
seem  to  me  to  be  any  sense  in  the  thing,  and  when  I  see  you 
sit  down  and  figure  away  with  all  those  letters  and  things,  it 
beats  me  altogether. ' ' 

"It  is  not  difficult  when  you  have  begun  from  the  begin- 
ning," Stephen  said.  "  Of  course,  as  my  father  wanted  to 
teach  me  navigation,  he  taught  me  just  the  things  that  led  up 
to  the  problems  that  you  are  talking  about,  so  that  it  really 
was  not  hard,  but  if  I  had  to  do  any  other  sort  of  mathe- 
matical questions  I  should  be  just  as  much  puzzled  as  you  are. 
Then  you  see,  my  father  explained  every  step  as  it  came,  and 
as  one  led  to  another,  I  learnt  them  without  meeting  with  any 
one  special  difficulty ;  but  I  can  quite  see  that  it  would  be 
very  hard  for  anyone  to  learn  to  work  it  out  without  having 
been  coached  from  the  start. ' ' 

"  I  shall  never  try  again.  I  think  I  could  find  a  port  by 
reckoning  and  the  sun,  but  as  for  the  moon  and  stars  I  give 
them  up  altogether.  There  are  hundreds  of  skippers,  nay 
thousands  of  them,  who  don't  know  more  than  I  do." 
*  This  was  indeed  the  case,  and  the  skilful  navigators  had 
less  advantage  over  experienced  men  who  worked  by  rule  of 
thumb  than  is  now  the  case,  as  the  instruments  were  com- 
paratively rough  and  the  chronometers  far  less  accurate  than 
at  present,  and  even  those  most  skilful  in  their  use  were  well 
satisfied  if  at  the  end  of  a  long  voyage  they  found  that  they 
were  within  twenty  miles  of  their  reckoning. 

"It  is  different  work  now,  lad,  to  what  it  used  to  be  two 
years  ago.  Now  one  walks  up  and  down  the  deck,  and 


28  WITH    COCHRANE    THE    DAUNTLESS 

though  there  may  be  twenty  sail  in  sight,  one  pays  no  more 
attention  to  them  than  one  would  to  as  many  sea-birds. 
Then  every  sail  was  watched,  and  one  was  up  in  the  tops 
with  one's  glass  twenty  times  a  day,  for  there  was  no  saying 
whether  it  was  a  friend  or  an  enemy.  One's  watch  at  night 
was  a  watch  then,  for  there  was  never  any  saying  whether  a 
French  privateer  might  not  come  looming  out  of  the  darkness 
at  any  moment ;  and  if  a  vessel  of  about  our  size  was  made 
out  a  mile  off,  it  was  all  hands  on  deck,  and  cast  the  lashings 
off  the  guns,  and  stand  by  till  she  was  out  of  sight  again. 
Now  one  jogs  along,  and  all  that  you  have  got  to  look  out 
for,  is  to  see  that  you  don't  run  foul  of  another  craft,  or  let 
one  run  foul  of  you.  Yes,  we  had  a  rough  time  of  it  in  those 
days,  and  I  ain't  sorry  that  they  are  over." 

"  But  you  look  out  sharp  for  pirates  when  you  are  among 
the  islands,  don't  you,  Mr.  Staines?  " 

"  Ay,  lad;  but  when  one  sees  a  Malay  pirate,  there  is  no 
mistaking  her  for  anything  else.  At  night  it  is  generally  a 
stark  calm,  and  whether  one  is  lying  idle,  with  the  sails 
hanging  flat  against  the  mast,  or  whether  one  is  at  anchor, 
one  knows  that  they  can't  come  upon  us  under  sail,  and  on  a 
still  night  one  can  hear  the  beat  of  their  oars  miles  away. 
There  is  never  any  fear  of  being  surprised  as  long  as  there  is 
a  hand  wide  awake  and  watchful  on  deck.  Calms  are  the 
greatest  curse  out  there ;  the  ship  lies  sometimes  for  days,  ay 
and  for  weeks,  with  the  water  as  smooth  as  grease,  and  every- 
thing that  has  been  thrown  overboard  floating  alongside,  and 
the  sun  coming  down  until  your  brain  is  on  the  boil. ' ' 

"  You  have  storms  sometimes,  don't  you?  " 

"  Sometimes,  not  very  often  ;  but  when  it  does  blow,  it 
blows  fit  to  take  your  head  off,  and  you  have  nothing  to  do 
but  to  cruise  under  bare  poles,  and  hope  that  nothing  will 
get  in  your  way.  There  is  one  thing,  they  are  not  gales  like 


OFF    TO    SEA  29 

we  have  here,  but  cyclones,  and  instead  of  getting  blown 
along  for  hundreds  of  miles,  you  go  round  and  round,  so  that 
if  there  is  no  land  within  fifty  miles  of  you  when  the  storm 
strikes,  the  chances  are  that  you  are  safe.  If  you  can  but  lie 
to,  you  can  manage  at  last  to  edge  out  of  it  on  the  side  that 
is  furthest  from  land.  A  cyclone  is  no  joke,  I  can  tell  you  ; 
but  if  you  get  warning  enough  to  get  your  canvas  stowed  and 
to  send  down  your  light  spars,  and  have  got  a  ship  like  the 
Tiger  under  you  in  good  trim, — not  too  light,  not  too  heavy, 
— you  ought  to  be  able  to  live  through  it.  There  is  no  better 
sailor  nor  one  more  familiar  with  the  islands  than  the  skipper. 
He  is  not  fond  of  carrying  on,  and  perhaps  at  times  we  think 
him  a  little  too  prudent,  but  he  generally  turns  out  right ;  any- 
how, it  is  a  fault  on  the  right  side. 

"I  have  sailed  under  him  fifteen  years  now.  I  was  third 
mate  when  I  first  joined  his  ship  ;  not  this,  you  know,  but 
the  old  Gertrude.  I  have  never  had  a  cross  word  with  him, 
nor  have  the  other  two  mates.  He  expects  every  man  to  do 
his  duty,  as  is  right  enough ;  but  if  that  is  done  well,  every- 
thing goes  on  smooth.  I  don't  think  that  there  are  ten  of  the 
crew  who  have  not  been  with  the  skipper  for  years.  When 
we  get  back  to  port  and  the  crew  are  paid  off,  it  is  always, 
'  When  will  you  want  us  again,  captain  ? '  and  no  matter 
whether  it  is  in  a  fortnight  or  in  a  couple  of  months,  pretty 
nearly  every  man  will  turn  up." 

"That  speaks  for  itself,  both  as  to  the  owner  and  the 
skipper,  and  the  mates  too,  Mr.  Staines." 

11  Well,  we  have  not  much  to  do  with  it.  Unless  a  man 
does  his  duty,  and  does  it  pleasantly  and  without  cursing  and 
swearing,  he  won't  make  two  voyages  under  the  skipper;  in- 
deed he  won't  make  one.  Three  years  ago  Towel  was  laid  up 
with  a  hurt  he  got  on  the  voyage  before,  and  we  had  to  get  a 
new  second  mate  at  the  last  moment,  for  Pasley  had  not  got 


30  WITH    COCHRANE    THE    DAUNTLESS 

his  certificate  then,  and  couldn't  take  Towel's  place.  The 
man  was  highly  recommended,  and  was  a  good  sailor,  but  he 
was  a  bully,  and  a  foul-mouthed  one,  and  the  skipper  put  him 
on  shore  at  the  Cape,  and  paid  his  passage  home  out  of  his  own 
pocket — though  I  know  the  owner  returned  it  to  him  after- 
wards, and  said  that  he  had  done  quite  right.  I  tell  you,  lad, 
you  are  lucky  in  making  your  first  voyage  on  board  the  Tiger, 
for,  putting  aside  everything  else,  I  don't  know  a  single  ship, 
except  Hewson's,  where  the  apprentices  mess  with  the  master 
and  mates,  and  are  treated  as  they  are  here. 

"  I  daresay  you  wonder  why  some  of  us  have  not  been 
apprentices,  but  it  is  only  the  last  two  or  three  years  that 
Hewson's  ships  have  carried  them.  Before  that  there  was 
always  a  fourth  mate  to  each  of  his  ships,  so  that  there  were 
two  officers  in  each  watch ;  but  the  ships  have  such  a  good 
name,  and  the  owner  had  so  many  applications  from  friends 
with  sons  who  wanted  to  go  to  sea,  that  three  years  ago  he 
made  the  change.  But  he  is  mighty  particular  who  he  takes, 
and  all  his  indentures  contain  a  clause  that  unless  the  reports 
by  the  captains  they  sail  under  are  favourable,  the  owner  has 
the  right  of  returning  the  premium  he  received  and  of  cancel- 
ling the  indentures.  I  can  tell  you,  lad,  that  if  every  owner 
took  as  much  pains  for  the  comfort  of  his  officers  and  crews 
as  Mr.  Hewson  does,  Jack  would  have  a  deal  better  life  than 
is  now  the  case. ' ' 


IN    THE    MALAY    ARCHIPELAGO  31 

CHAPTER  II 

IN    THE    MALAY    ARCHIPELAGO 

THE  stay  at  Calcutta  was  a  short  one,  and  as  soon  as  the 
cargo  for  that  port  was  unladen,  the  Tiger  again  sailed. 
The  apprentices  had  a  run  ashore,  but  each  had  gone  with  one 
of  the  mates,  as  in  so  large  a  city  the  boys,  if  alone,  might 
well  have  got  into  trouble.  Stephen  went  with  the  first  mate, 
and  was  glad  at  the  arrangement,  as  Mr.  Staines  had  fre- 
quently been  there  before  and  knew  the  town  well,  and 
Stephen  therefore  saw  a  great  deal  more  of  it  than  he  would 
have  done  had  he  been  alone.  He  was  delighted  with  the 
native  bazaar,  and  would  have  laid  out  much  of  his  spare  cash 
there,  had  not  Mr.  Staines  prevented  him. 

"Time  enough  when  you  get  back,  Stephen.  But  if  you 
have  got  any  money  to  spend  you  had  better  go  with  me  to  a 
stall  where,  the  last  two  voyages  I  have  been  here,  I  laid  in  a 
stock  of  articles  useful  for  trading  with  the  Malays — looking- 
glasses,  beads,  brass  buttons,  bright  handkerchiefs,  and  things 
of  that  sort.  I  don't  say  but  that  one  might  get  them  cheaper 
in  London ;  but  in  the  first  place,  one  always  finds  plenty  of 
things  there  to  spend  one's  money  on ;  and  in  the  second 
place,  the  people  here  know  exactly  the  sort  of  goods  needed 
in  the  islands,  and  one  can  get  them  all  at  one  stall  instead  of 
having  to  hunt  about  in  a  dozen  shops  for  them.  We  are  each 
allowed  to  trade  on  our  own  account  up  to  a  certain  amount ; 
and,  as  a  rule,  I  find  that  when  I  get  back  here  I  can  sell  the 
curiosities  I  buy  down  in  the  islands  for  about  four  times  as 
much  as  the  goods  cost  me,  so  if  you  do  the  same  you  will 
have  more  money  to  buy  things  with  here  than  if  you  bought 
them  now.  But  for  most  of  the  things  you  pick  up  you  will 


32  WITH    COCHRANE    THE    DAUNTLESS 

find  you  can  get  a  much  better  price  in  London  than  you  can 
here." 

"  What  sort  of  things  do  you  buy  there,  Mr.  Staines?  " 

"  The  skins  of  birds,  carved  wood-work,  Malay  arms,  models 
of  canoes,  and  things  of  that  kind.  The  bird  skins  are  the 
best,  especially  if  you  know  anything  about  them.  I  have 
got  as  much  as  two  or  three  pounds  for  a  rare  skin  that  I  ex- 
changed for  a  twopenny  looking-glass  and  half  a  dozen  brass 
buttons,  but  of  course  that  was  an  exceptional  case  ;  for,  as  a 
rule,  they  will  average  two  or  three  shillings  apiece.  You  had 
better  buy  a  big  pot  of  arsenical  soap,  which  acts  as  a  preserv- 
ative to  keep  away  insects,  also  two  or  three  air-tight  tin 
boxes ;  they  will  hold  the  things  you  buy  here,  and  you  can 
fill  them  with  trade  goods." 

Steve  took  the  advice,  and  expended  four  out  of  the  five 
pounds  his  father  had  given  him  on  sailing.  The  mate  laid 
out  twenty  pounds  in  similar  purchases,  and  then  they  re- 
turned to  the  ship,  which  was  anchored  a  mile  down  the  riv- 
er, followed  by  three  coolies  carrying  their  purchases.  The 
other  apprentices  similarly  laid  out  their  spare  cash. 

"  You  have  done  well,  lads,"  the  captain  said,  as  they  were 
at  dinner  on  the  evening  before  sailing.  "  You  must  not  ex- 
pect to  make  a  very  great  deal  by  your  trading,  although,  no 
doubt,  you  will  get  a  handsome  return  for  your  money.  To 
do  really  well  you  must  have  some  knowledge  of  what  birds 
are  rare  and  what  are  common,  and  I  should  advise  you  when 
we  get  home  to  spend  any  time  that  you  have  to  spare  in  vis- 
iting the  Museum  and  examining  the  birds  there.  No  doubt 
you  will  be  able  to  find  out  from  one  of  the  attendants  which 
are  rare  ones,  and  might  be  able  to  consult  some  books  on  the 
subject.  You  may  have  the  luck  to  come  across  skins  that 
are  altogether  new;  and,  at  any  rate,  a  little  knowledge  would 
enable  you  to  exchange  your  goods  to  a  very  much  greater 


IN    THE   MALAY    ARCHIPELAGO  33 

advantage  than  you  could  otherwise  do.  A  knowledge  of  that 
kind  is  always  useful  to  a  sailor,  who  in  his  wanderings 
may  well  get  from  the  natives  rare  and  valuable  specimens  in 
natural  history,  and  there  are  always  plenty  of  collectors  ready 
to  pay  good  prices  for  them.  I  have  often  regretted  that  I 
did  not  pay  attention  to  such  matters  when  I  was  young ;  for 
besides  paying  well,  it  gives  a  great  interest  to  visits  to  little- 
known  places,  and  I  have  heard  of  two  or  three  captains  who 
have  made  a  good  deal  of  money  by  it." 

For  two  months  after  getting  among  the  islands  no  serious 
adventures  were  met  with.  Trading  went  on  steadily.  Several 
times  large  native  craft  were  seen,  but  these  sheered  off  when 
they  saw  that  the  Tiger  was  well  armed  and  prepared  for 
defence.  As  most  of  the  places  touched  at  had  been  visited 
by  the  captain  on  previous  voyages,  the  natives  hailed  his 
return  with  expressions  of  apparent  pleasure ;  but  however 
friendly  their  bearing,  there  was  never  any  abatement  of  the 
vigilance  by  the  captain  and  his  officers.  Only  a  certain 
number  were  allowed  to  come  on  board  to  trade.  The  seamen 
always  carried  cutlasses  by  their  side  and  a  brace  of  pistols  in 
their  belts,  and  even  when  they  went  ashore  for  wood  or  water 
two  boats  were  always  sent,  half  the  men  with  loaded  muskets 
keeping  guard  while  the  others  worked,  and  the  guns  of  the 
ship  were  loaded  and  trained  in  readiness  to  open  fire  in  case 
of  any  hostile  demonstration  on  the  part  of  the  natives.  Occa- 
sionally, when  a  chief  had  paid  a  visit  to  the  ship  and  invited 
the  captain  to  a  feast  on  shore,  a  strong  guard  armed  to  the 
teeth  accompanied  him,  and  a  boat  lay  by  the  ship's  side  in 
readiness  to  land  another  party  if  necessary. 

"  They  are  the  most  treacherous  race  on  earth,"  the  cap- 
tain said  one  day  when  the  third  officer  remarked  that  they 
seemed  very  friendly.  "  You  can  never  trust  them  for  a 
moment ;  they  will  shake  hands  with  you  with  one  hand  and 
3 


34  WITH    COCHRANE    THE    DAUNTLESS 

stab  you  with  the  other.  Numbers  of  ships'  companies  have 
been  massacred  owing  to  the  captains  putting  faith  in  appear- 
ances, and  allowing  too  many  of  the  copper-coloured  scoundrels 
to  get  on  board  at  once.  As  long  as  you  make  a  rule  that  not 
more  than  twenty  or  thirty  can  come  on  the  deck,  and  that 
all  boats  must  keep  at  a  distance,  you  are  safe,  but  you  must 
never  let  yourself  be  caught  napping.  I  have  had  one  or  two 
very  narrow  escapes,  for  it  is  twenty-five  years  now  since  I 
first  came  among  these  islands. 

"  I  had  just  passed  as  a  third  mate  when  I  made  my  first 
voyage  here.  The  captain  was  an  easy-going  man,  and  was 
quite  taken  in  by  the  appearance  of  friendliness  on  the  part  of 
the  natives.  The  first  mate,  too,  was  a  good  sailor,  but  new 
to  the  islands,  and  too  fond  of  his  grog;  but  luckily  the 
second  mate  had  been  here  before.  His  ship  had  once  been 
attacked  and  nearly  half  the  men  killed  before  they  could 
beat  the  Malays  overboard,  and  he  was  always  in  a  fidget. 

"  I  was  only  about  twenty  at  the  time,  and,  like  a  young 
fool,  thought  that  it  was  pure  cowardice  on  his  part ;  how- 
ever, at  his  earnest  request  I  carried  a  brace  of  double- 
barrelled  pistols  in  my  pocket,  and,  unknown  to  the  captain 
and  the  first  mate,  he  persuaded  a  dozen  of  the  crew  to  do 
the  same,  and  got  the  captain  to  let  him  keep  the  cannon 
loaded  with  grape,  though  the  latter  made  no  secret  that  he 
regarded  this  precaution  as  altogether  uncalled  for.  The 
natives  came  on  board  as  usual,  at  first  only  two  or  three 
canoe  loads,  but  gradually  the  number  of  Malays  on  deck 
became  larger  and  larger,  and  quite  a  crowd  of  boats  were 
clustered  round.  I  could  see  that  Pearson,  the  second  mate, 
was  in  a  fidget ;  he  glanced  at  me  significantly  two  or  three 
times,  and  I  began  to  think  myself  that  he  might  be  right. 
We  were  both  of  us  engaged  in  bartering  with  the  natives, 
and  I  noticed  that"  Pearson  put  the  goods  under  his  charge 


IN    THE    MALAY   ARCHIPELAGO  35 

close  to  one  side  of  the  deck,  so  that  standing  behind  them 
he  leant  against  the  bulwark  and  could  not  be  taken  in  rear. 
I  ordered  a  couple  of  the  men  to  move  my  lot  also.  Both  of 
those  I  spoke  to  were,  I  knew,  among  those  Pearson  had  per- 
suaded to  carry  pistols  in  their  pockets. 

"  'I  don't  like  the  look  of  things,  Mr.  Finder,'  one  of 
them,  an  old  hand,  whispered  to  me. 

"  'No  more  do  I,  Jack,'  I  said.  'Just  slip  below  and 
bring  up  four  of  those  boarding-axes.  Put  one  of  them 
down  among  Mr.  Pearson's  goods  and  make  a  sign  to  him 
that  it  is  for  his  use,  put  the  other  three  down  in  front  of  me, 
and  then  do  you  and  Bob  Hawkins  take  your  places  between 
me  and  Mr.  Pearson,  as  if  you  were  going  to  lend  us  a  hand 
with  the  trade ;  then  if  there  is  a  shindy  the  four  of  us  will  be 
able  to  make  a  hard  fight  of  it  anyhow.' 

"  He  did  as  I  told  him,  and  the  second  officer  nodded  to 
me  approvingly.  Things  went  on  quietly  for  another  five 
minutes,  then  I  heard  a  heavy  blow  given,  followed  by  a 
fall ;  and,  as  if  this  was  the  signal,  the  quiet  crowd  of 
natives  became  in  a  moment  a  mob  of  yelling  fiends  ;  screams 
filled  the  air,  pistol-shots  rang  out,  and  you  may  guess  we  fell 
to  work,  in  earnest.  I  fancy  we  did  not  throw  away  a  shot 
between  us,  and  cleared  a  space  in  front  of  us,  then  snatching 
up  the  axes  we  made  at  them  tooth  and  nail.  We  first  fought 
our  way  aft.  The  first  mate  was  fighting  like  a  demon  ;  he 
had  caught  up  a  handspike,  and,  being  a  very  powerful  man, 
kept  off  his  assailants  fairly  till  we  cut  our  way  through  and 
joined  him.  The  moment  he  was  free  from  the  group  that 
was  attacking  him,  he  rushed  forward,  sweeping  the  natives 
over  with  his  handspike  like  ninepins.  Two  of  us  kept  on 
each  side  of  him.  There  was  just  breadth  enough  on  the 
deck  to  give  free  play  to  our  axes,  and  though  the  Malays 
came  at  us  furiously,  they  could  not  stand  the  blows  of  our 


36  WITH  COCHRANE  THE  DAUNTLESS 

heavy  weapons.  The  cook  and  the  steward  came  rushing  up 
behind  us. 

"'Turn  the  cannon  on  the  canoes!'  Pearson  shouted. 
'  Depress  them  as  much  as  you  can,  and  give  it  them  hot.' 

"  I  had  no  time  to  look  round,  but  half  a  minute  later  I 
heard  one  of  the  cannon  go  off,  followed  by  yells  and  screams 
from  the  water. 

"  'Train  two  of  them  along  the  deck,'  I  shouted,  'but 
don't  fire  until  you  have  orders.' 

"  The  Malays  were  swarming  up  from  the  canoes  and  join- 
ing the  crowd  in  front  of  us,  and  I  saw  a  rush  of  some  of  our 
fellows  up  on  to  the  top  of  the  forecastle.  We  could  make 
no  way  now,  and  it  was  as  much  as  we  could  do  to  hold  our 
own.  I  fought  on  until  I  thought  the  guns  were  ready ;  then, 
looking  round,  saw  the  two  men  standing  behind  them  with 
lighted  matches. 

"  '  The  cannon  are  trained  to  sweep  the  deck,  Conklin  !  ' 
but  it  was  not  until  I  touched  him  and  shouted  in  his  ear 
again  that  the  mate  heard  me. 

"  '  Now  !  '  Pearson  yelled,  '  throw  yourselves  on  to  them, 
cut  down  one  or  two  of  the  rascals,  and  when  I  shout  '  Run  !  ' 
get  back  behind  the  guns. ' 

"  The  thought  of  what  was  coming  gave  us  fresh  strength. 
We  went  at  them  with  a  will,  and  drove  them  back  a  couple 
of  yards.  Then  Pearson  shouted  '  Run  !  '  and  back  we  went 
aft  as  hard  as  we  could  tear,  Pearson  and  I  almost  dragging 
Conklin  with  us.  As  we  passed  between  the  guns,  with  the 
Malays  close  at  our  heels,  both  men  fired ;  the  guns  were 
crammed  almost  to  the  mouth  with  bullets,  and  the  execution 
was  awful.  In  a  moment  we  dashed  at  them  again,  while  the 
men  forward,  who  had  armed  themselves  with  the  capstan- 
bars,  ran  down  the  ladder  and  fell  upon  them.  In  another 
minute  it  was  all  over.  The  Malays  who  remained  alive 


"WE  WENT   AT   THE  TREACHEROUS   MALAYS   WITH   A   WILL    AND    DROVE 
THEM    BACK." 


IN   THE   MALAY   ARCHIPELAGO  37 

sprang  over  the  bulwark,  and  we  discharged  the  remaining 
five  cannons  into  the  canoes,  smashing  up  numbers  of  them, 
and  the  rest  paddled  for  the  shore  for  their  lives.  We  had 
time  now  to  look  around.  It  was  an  awful  sight.  Over 
fifty  Malays  lay  dead,  together  with  eleven  of  our  men,  be- 
sides the  captain.  If  it  had  not  been  for  Pearson  not  a  soul 
would  have  lived  to  tell  the  tale.  After  it  was  over,  we 
found  that,  as  the  crowds  on  deck  had  increased,  most 
of  our  old  hands,  who  were  the  men  that  had  taken  the 
pistols,  had  gradually  gathered  near  the  forecastle.  Some 
of  the  others  had  joined  them,  and  when  the  outbreak 
came,  they  had  for  a  time  been  able  to  make  a  stout  resist- 
ance, until  one  of  their  number,  who  was  on  the  forecastle 
when  the  fight  began,  shouted  to  them  that  we  were  train- 
ing the  cannon  forward,  and  they  then  made  a  rush  up  and 
joined  him. 

"  Every  man  who  had  been  among  the  natives  had  been 
cut  down  at  the  first  alarm.  Out  of  the  twenty-eight  hands 
on  board  when  the  fight  began  only  sixteen  remained.  Many 
of  these  had  desperate  wounds  from  the  Malay  creases,  and 
two  of  them  died  a  day  or  two  afterwards.  Conklin  had  been 
very  badly  cut  about.  None  of  the  wounds  ought  to  have 
been  dangerous,  but  he  had  heated  his  blood  by  drink,  and 
that  in  a  hot  climate  is  fatal,  so  we  buried  him  ten  days  after 
the  fight.  Thus,  you  see,  we  lost  two  officers  and  thirteen 
men,  and  all  for  want  of  taking  precautions.  Of  course  we 
sailed  at  once  for  Calcutta,  and  luckily  had  fine  weather  on 
the  way  ;  we  should  have  fared  badly  with  but  half  a  crew 
had  we  fallen  in  with  a  hurricane.  Pearson  was  a  good 
navigator,  and,  after  taking  six  more  hands  on  board  at 
Calcutta,  he  brought  her  home  safely.  The  owners  made 
us  both  handsome  presents,  and  the  next  voyage  he  sailed  as 
first  mate  and  I  as  second.  So  it  turned  out  a  lucky  stroke 


38  WITH   COCHRANE   THE    DAUNTLESS 

for  both  of  us.     Three  years  later  he  went  as  captain,  and  a 
year  afterwards  I  sailed  as  his  first  mate." 

"  When  was  it  you  had  your  other  adventure,  captain?  " 
"  That  was  in  the  year  before.  I  did  not  sail  with  Pearson 
that  year,  for  he  was  promoted  suddenly  to  a  ship  ready  to 
sail.  It  was  a  piece  of  luck  for  him.  One  of  the  owners 
went  down  to  the  docks  late  one  afternoon  and  found  the 
captain  blind  drunk.  So  he  was  sent  straight  on  shore,  and 
Pearson  got  his  billet.  I  was  very  sorry  that  I  could  not  go 
with  him,  as  after  that  business  we  became  great  friends,  and 
in  his  report  of  the  affair  he  gave  me  more  credit  than  I 
deserved  for  my  idea  of  getting  those  hatchets  up,  which,  he 
said,  alone  enabled  us  to  make  a  successful  defence.  I  had 
the  more  cause  to  regret  his  transfer,  since  the  captain  was  an 
obstinate  man,  as  we  found  out  during  the  voyage,  and  just 
as  much  inclined  to  treat  the  natives  with  contempt  as  my 
former  skipper  had  been.  However,  the  man  appointed  to 
take  Pearson's  place  as  first  mate  was  a  sharp  fellow,  and 
lucky  he  was  so.  We  were  lying  one  night  in  a  harbour 
where  the  natives  had  appeared  particularly  friendly  the  day 
before.  Purvis,  the  mate,  suggested  to  the  captain  that  it 
would  be  as  well  to  have  the  watches  kept  as  if  at  sea,  but  the 
old  man  pooh-poohed  the  idea. 

"'I  don't  like  it,'  the  mate  said  to  me;  '  those  fellows 
were  too  friendly.  They  did  not  bargain  over  the  goods,  but 
took  them  at  our  own  terms,  which  is  not  their  way.  I  be- 
lieve they  did  it  just  to  lull  us  into  a  sense  of  security.  As 
soon  as  the  skipper  turns  in  for  the  night  I  will  get  the  guns 
quietly  loaded,  and  you  and  I  will  keep  watch,  while  I  will 
order  the  crew  to  turn  in  all  standing,  so  as  to  be  ready  to 
tumble  out  at  once.  It  is  mighty  hard  to  keep  awake  on 
these  soft  nights  when  the  anchor  is  down,  and  with  neither 
you  nor  I  on  deck  the  betting  is  two  to  one  that  the  hands  on 


IN    THE    MALAY    ARCHIPELAGO  39 

anchor  watch  will  drop  off  to  sleep.  The  skipper  will  be 
snoring  by  ten  o'clock,  and  you  had  better  turn  in  now.  I 
will  see  to  getting  the  guns  loaded,  and  to  having  plenty 
of  ammunition  handy.  I  will  call  you  at  four  bells.  If  we 
are  going  to  be  attacked  it  is  likely  to  be  just  as  day  is  break- 
ing.' 

"  'You  had  better  call  me  at  two  bells,'  I  said,  'and  then 
you  can  get  three  hours'  sleep  and  be  up  at  eight  bells.  It 
won't  begin  to  get  light  until  after  that,  and  you  may  be  sure 
that  if  I  hear  any  sound  I  will  wake  you  at  once.' 

"So  we  arranged  it,  and  at  one  o'clock  he  came  down 
quietly.  I  had  only  taken  off  my  shoes  and  carried  these  in 
my  hand,  so  as  to  avoid  making  any  noise  that  might  wake 
the  skipper,  as  I  went  out  on  deck. 

"  '  Everything  is  quiet,'  the  mate  said,  'and  has  been  ever 
since  you  turned  in.  Even  that  is  not  natural,  for,  as  you 
know,  the  natives  when  they  have  been  doing  a  trade  gen- 
erally keep  on  feasting  and  making  a  row  half  the  night. 
Keep  your  ears  well  open,  for  there  is  no  trusting  the  watch. 
Every  time  I  have  gone  forward  I  have  found  them  sound 
asleep.  Naturally  they  think  that,  as  there  is  only  an  anchor 
watch,  there  can  be  no  fear  of  disturbance  ;  so  you  must  trust 
to  your  own  ears  and  not  to  theirs.' 

"  '  All  right !  '  I  said  ;   '  I  will  keep  awake — never  fear.' 

"  I  think  if  I  had  not  been  confident  that  the  first  mate  was 
not  the  man  to  take  alarm  easily,  I  should  have  had  difficulty 
in  keeping  my  eyes  open,  for  the  night  was  sultry  and  not  a 
breath  of  air  was  moving.  I  went  forward  to  the  two  men  on 
watch  and  told  them  that  they  must  keep  a  sharp  look-out, 
for  that  it  was  likely  enough  we  might  be  attacked  before 
morning.  Then  I  lit  my  pipe  and  paced  up  and  down  the 
deck,  stopping  occasionally  to  listen  intently.  It  was  nearly 
eight  bells  when  I  thought  I  heard  a  grating  sound  on  shore. 


40  WITH    COCHRANE   THE   DAUNTLESS 

I  walked  forward  and  found,  as  I  expected,  that  the  two  men 
on  watch  were  half-asleep.  '  Wake  up,  you  fools  !  '  I  said ; 
'  there  is  something  moving.'  Again  I  heard  the  low  grating 
sound. 

"  '  Did  you  hear  that?  '  I  asked. 

"  The  men  were  wide  awake  now. 

"  'Yes,  sir,  I  heard  a  noise;  but  I  don't  know  what  it 
was.' 

"  '  They  are  launching  their  canoes,'  I  said.  '  I  will  call 
the  first  officer.' 

"  I  went  aft.     Purvis  woke  directly  I  touched  him. 

"'I  fancy  they  are  launching  their  canoes,'  I  said.  'I 
have  twice  heard  a  grating  sound.' 

"  He  was  up  in  a  moment.  We  stood  listening  intently 
for  some  minutes.  There  was  certainly  a  movement  on  shore, 
but  it  was  difficult  to  say  of  what  kind.  It  was  just  a  low 
confused  murmur. 

"  'You  are  are  right,'  the  mate  said  presently;  'look  at 
the  water.' 

"  For  a  moment  I  scarcely  understood  him  ;  then  I  saw 
what  he  meant.  It  had  been  as  smooth  as  oil  before ;  it  was 
no  longer  so,  but  it  was  broken  with  tiny  ripples  as  if  dis- 
turbed by  the  faintest  possible  breeze. 

"  '  These  ripples  must  be  made  by  launching  the  canoes,' 
he  went  on.  '  A  strong  body  of  men  might  carry  them 
almost  noiselessly  down  that  sandy  beach  and  put  them  in 
the  water  without  making  a  splash,  but  the  stir  made  in 
wading  and  in  lowering  them  down,  however  quietly,  would 
break  up  this  glassy  surface,  and  the  ripples  once  started 
would  run  out  here.  Anyhow  we  will  get  the  men  out. 
Tell  them  to  come  noiselessly.  We  will  serve  out  the  arms 
and  ammunition  to  them,  but  we  won't  load  the  guns  till  we 
have  something  more  to  go  upon.  It  may  be  some  time  be- 


IN   THE   MALAY   ARCHIPELAGO  41 

fore  they  attack.  I  think  it  is  likely  enough  that  they  will 
wait  until  they  hear  the  boats — which  I  have  no  doubt  they 
have  sent  for — coming  up,  before  they  make  a  move.' 

"  '  Shall  I  wake  the  skipper?  ' 

"  '  Certainly  not.  As  likely  as  not  he  would  blow  us  all 
up  and  send  the  men  back  to  their  bunks  again.  He  has 
made  up  his  mind  that  there  is  no  danger,  and  the  obstinate 
beggar  would  risk  our  having  all  our  throats  cut  rather  than 
own  there  was  any  ground  for  alarm.' 

"  I  went  into  the  forecastle  and  roused  the  men,  warning 
them  to  muster  as  quietly  as  possible.  Half  an  hour  passed 
without  the  slightest  sound  being  heard.  Then  the  men 
fidgeted  and  whispered  together,  and  were  evidently  of  opin- 
ion that  they  had  been  turned  out  on  a  false  alarm. 

"  '  Hush,  men ! '  Purvis  said  sharply,  '  I  can  hear  some- 
thing. ' 

"  You  could  have  heard  a  pin  drop  in  a  moment,  and  I  be- 
lieve every  man  held  his  breath.  There  was  a  sort  of  quiver 
in  the  air  rather  than  a  sound,  and  Watkins  the  boatswain, 
who  had  been  years  and  years  in  vessels  trading  among  the 
islands,  said :  '  You  are  right,  Mr.  Purvis,  that  is  sweeps ; 
and  what  is  more,  it  is  not  one  boat,  but  I  should  say  half  a 
dozen.' 

"  '  That  is  what  I  think,'  the  mate  said.  '  How  far  off 
should  you  say  they  were  ?  ' 

"  '  It  is  difficult  to  tell.  I  should  say  three  or  four  miles. 
That  is  the  best  of  these  proas.  A  canoe,  if  the  men  take 
pains  with  their  paddling,  will  come  within  a  hundred  yards 
of  you  before  you  hear  them,  but  as  the  proas  row  oars,  you 
can  make  them  out  a  long  way  off  on  a  still  night  like  this. ' 

"  '  Well,  we  will  wait  a  few  minutes  longer  before  we  wake 
the  skipper,'  Purvis  said  to  me.  '  He  will  swear  that  he  does 
not  hear  any  noise  at  all,  and  that  it  is  all  our  fancy.  In 


42  WITH    COCHRANE   THE    DAUNTLESS 

ten  minutes  there  will  be  no  mistaking  it.  Watkins,  you  had 
better  get  up  that  boarding-netting  ' — for  among  these  islands 
all  the  ships  carry  them,  and  very  useful  they  are  in  repelling 
an  attack. 

"  '  I  have  got  it  handy,'  the  boatswain  said,  and  soon 
brought  it  on  deck.  '  Shall  we  lash  it  up,  sir?  " 

"  No ;  we  had  better  wait  till  the  captain  comes  out.  It 
won't  take  above  a  couple  of  minutes,  especially  if  you  run  it 
all  along  by  the  bulwarks.' 

"  In  a  few  minutes  the  sound  of  the  oars  was  unmistakable, 
and  Purvis  went  in  to  call  the  captain. 

"  '  What  is  it?  '  the  skipper  said  as  the  mate  knocked. 

"  'There  are  five  or  six  proas  coming  towards  us,  sir,  and 
we  have  reason  to  believe  that  the  canoes  on  shore  are  all 
launched  and  ready  to  attack  us.' 

"  '  1  believe  it  is  all  nonsense,'  the  skipper  said  angrily  as 
he  came  from  his  door.  '  You  are  always  fidgeting  about 
pirates,  Mr.  Purvis.' 

"  He  came  out  on  deck,  listened  a  moment,  and  then  said  : 
'  Stuff  and  nonsense !  What,  have  you  got  the  men  out  ? 
Send  them  to  their  bunks  at  once  !  ' 

"  '  With  the  greatest  respect  to  you,  sir,  I  shall  do  nothing 
of  the  sort,  and  if  I  did  the  men  would  not  obey  me.  They 
can  all  hear  the  proas,  and  we  are  not  going  to  submit  to 
have  our  throats  cut  tamely.  Mr.  Pinder  thoroughly  agrees 
with  me,  and  so  does  the  boatswain,  that  these  proas  can  be 
coming  for  no  good  purpose  at  this  time  of  night,  and  it  were 
madness  not  to  be  ready  for  them.  What  do  you  say,  Mr. 
Pinder  ?  ' 

"  '  I  entirely  agree  with  you,  sir,'  I  replied. 

"  '  This  is  rank  mutiny  !  '   the  skipper  said  furiously. 

"  '  I  would  rather  be  tried  for  mutiny  than  have  my  throat 
cut  here.  Now,  sir,  will  you  give  orders,  or  shall  I  ?  ' 


IN   THE    MALAY    ARCHIPELAGO  43 

"  '  I  will  give  no  orders,'  the  captain  said.  '  In  the  morn- 
ing I  will  have  you  put  in  irons.' 

"  Purvis,  giving  a  short  laugh,  turned  on  his  heel.  '  My 
lads,'  he  said,  '  you  have  heard  the  sound  of  the  oars,  and 
know  as  well  as  I  do  that  we  shall  shortly  be  attacked,  and 
shall  have  to  fight  hard  for  our  lives.  The  captain  is  of  opin- 
ion that  we  are  all  mistaken,  and  wants  us  to  turn  in  again. 
What  do  you  say  ?  Will  you  have  your  throats  cut  or 
not?' 

"  There  was  an  angry  growl  from  the  sailors. 

"  '  Very  well,  then,  set  to  work  and  load  the  guns — ball  at 
first,  but  keep  your  grape  handy,  we  shall  want  it  before  we 
have  done.  Do  it  quietly  ;  it  is  as  well  these  fellows  on  shore 
should  not  know  what  we  are  up  to.  As  soon  as  you  have 
loaded,  rig  up  the  boarding-nettings.' 

"  In  a  moment  all  was  bustle.  There  was  no  need  to  run 
the  guns  in,  for  that  was  already  done,  the  captain  insisting 
upon  our  always  having  the  ports  closed,  in  order,  as  he  said, 
that  the  natives  might  see  that  our  intentions  were  perfectly 
friendly.  Consequently,  the  men  were  enabled  to  load  the 
guns  without  noise,  moving  about  the  deck  on  their  naked 
feet  like  shadows.  Then  the  boarding-nettings  were  triced 
up,  arms  distributed  amongst  the  men,  each  having  a  board- 
ing-pike, a  cutlass,  and  a  brace  of  pistols.  By  the  time  that 
this  was  done,  we  judged  by  the  sound  of  the  sweeps  that  the 
pirates  were  not  more  than  a  mile  away.  Lanterns  were  got 
up  on  deck  and  placed  in  readiness  to  be  lighted  and  run  up 
to  the  yard-arm,  so  as  to  throw  some  light  down  on  the  water. 

"  '  Now,  we  will  call  the  old  man  again.  Obstinate  as  he 
is  he  can't  help  hearing  the  oars  now,  and  I  know  that  he  is 
plucky  enough,  and  will  fight  the  ship  well  as  soon  as  he  is 
once  convinced  that  there  is  danger.' 

"  We  went  together  to  the  skipper's. 


44  WITH    COCHRANE   THE    DAUNTLESS 

"  '  Captain,'  Purvis  said  in  a  loud  voice,  '  Finder  and  I 
have  come  to  tell  you  that  the  proas  are  within  a  mile  of  us, 
and  to  ask  you  to  take  the  command  and  fight  the  ship.' 

"  We  heard  the  skipper  tumble  out  of  his  bunk  again  with 
an  angry  exclamation.  He  opened  the  door  without  a  word 
and  went  straight  up  on  to  the  poop.  He  listened  a  moment, 
and  then  ran  down  again. 

"  '  I  beg  your  pardon,  Mr.  Purvis,'  he  said  hastily,  '  but  I 
have  been  wrong,  and  there  is  no  doubt  we  are  going  to  be 
attacked.  I  am  heartily  sorry  for  what  I  have  said,  and  I 
thank  you  for  your  watchfulness.' 

"  '  Say  no  more  about  it,  captain.  We  are  ready  to  begin 
as  soon  as  you  give  the  orders. ' 

"  '  I  will  throw  on  some  things  and  be  out  again  in  a 
minute ;  '  and  in  less  than  that  time  he  turned  out  again. 

"  '  You  have  the  guns  loaded  ?  '  he  asked. 

"  'Ay,  ay,  sir,  and  the  boarding-nettings  up.' 

"  '  Can  you  make  them  out  yet  ?  ' 

"  '  No,  sir.  By  the  sound,  they  are  keeping  close  in  to 
the  shore.  I  have  got  the  kedge  anchor  in  a  boat.  Shall  I 
lower  it  and  row  a  couple  of  ship's-lengths  and  drop  it  there, 
then  we  can  warp  her  round,  so  as  to  bring  all  our  guns  to 
bear  ?  I  deferred  doing  that  to  the  last,  so  that  the  fellows 
on  shore  should  not  know  we  were  on  the  alert.' 

"  '  Yes  ;  do  so  at  once,  Mr.  Purvis.' 

"  The  boatswain  and  two  hands  were  at  once  called  to  the 
boat,  which  was  then  lowered  and  rowed  off  in  the  direction 
the  mate  pointed  out.  The  anchor  was  let  drop,  and  the 
boat  returned  to  the  ship,  paying  out  the  hawser  over  the 
stern.  The  captain  had  taken  his  place  on  the  forecastle,  and 
was  looking  anxiously  ahead. 

"'I  see  them,'  he  exclaimed  at  last;  'they  are  coming 
out  from  behind  that  low  point  half  a  mile  away.  Haul  on 


IN    THE    MALAY    ARCHIPELAGO  45 

the  hawser  and  bring  her  broadside  to  bear  on  them.  Get 
the  guns  across  to  the  starboard  side,  Mr.  Finder.' 

"  The  ship  was  pierced  for  eight  guns  a  side,  and  by  the 
time  the  ship  was  swung  round,  they  were  all  in  position. 
The  proas,  now  no  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  mile  away,  were 
heading  straight  for  us. 

"  '  Take  a  steady  aim,  lads,'  the  captain  said,  '  and  fire  as 
soon  as  you  are  sure  of  your  shot.' 

"  In  quick  succession  the  guns  spoke  out.  At  the  reports 
wild  yells  broke  from  the  proas,  and  from  the  shore,  now 
astern  of  us. 

"  '  Load  as  quick  as  you  can  with  grape,'  the  captain 
shouted. 

"  There  had  been  five  proas  when  the  first  gun  was  fired, 
but  before  we  had  reloaded  one  had  disappeared,  and  there 
was  shouting  and  confusion  in  one  of  the  others.  It  was 
evident  that  she  also  was  in  difficulties. 

"  '  Don't  fire  until  I  give  the  word.' 

"  The  three  proas  were  within  fifty  yards  of  us  when  he 
gave  the  order,  and  the  eight  guns  poured  their  contents  into 
the  crowded  decks.  The  effect  was  terrible.  Two  of  the 
proas  ceased  rowing  altogether,  and  some  of  the  oars  of  the 
other  dropped  into  the  water  and  hampered  the  efforts  of  those 
who  still  continued  to  row. 

"  '  The  port  watch  will  repel  boarders.  The  starboard 
watch  will  load  again,'  the  captain  ordered. 

"  There  was  way  enough  on  the  proas  to  bring  them  all 
alongside,  but  either  the  men  at  the  steering  oars  were  all 
killed  or  they  had  lost  their  heads,  for,  instead  of  bringing 
them  up  alongside,  they  simply  came  up  bows  on.  As  they 
struck  the  side  the  Malays  tried  to  climb  up,  but,  attacking  as 
they  did  only  at  three  points,  our  men  had  little  difficulty  in 
keeping  them  off,  thrusting  through  the  nettings  with  their 


46  WITH    COCHRANE    THE    DAUNTLESS 

boarding-pikes,  and  giving  the  Malays  no  time  to  attempt  to 
chop  down  the  nettings  with  their  creases. 

"  '  Are  you  all  loaded  ?  '  the  captain  shouted. 

"  '  Ay,  ay,  sir,'  came  from  the  guns. 

"  '  Train  them  so  as  to  take  the  proas  between  wind  and 
water,'  the  captain  said  ;  '  then  run  the  port  guns  back  to 
their  places  ;  we  shall  be  attacked  on  that  side  directly.' 

"  The  sea  indeed  was  sparkling  with  phosphoric  fire,  as  a 
crowd  of  canoes  from  the  shore  paddled  out  towards  us.  The 
steward  now  lit  and  ran  up  half  a  dozen  lanterns.  We  got  the 
guns  over  in  time,  but  before  we  could  load  them  the  Malays 
were  swarming  up  the  side. 

"  '  Take  three  men,  Finder,  and  load  the  guns,'  cried  the 
captain ;  '  we  will  keep  these  fellows  off. ' 

"  The  same  order  was  given  to  the  boatswain  with  regard 
to  the  guns  on  the  starboard  side.  It  was  exciting  work,  for 
spears  were  flying  in  showers,  stink-pots  were  hurled  over  the 
nettings,  and  the  yelling  and  shouting  were  deafening.  Our 
men  were  sticking  to  their  pikes,  for  they  had  been  ordered  to 
keep  their  pistols  in  reserve  in  case  the  pirates  obtained  a  foot- 
ing on  deck.  There  were  two  little  guns  on  the  poop,  and 
when  I  had  loaded  the  guns  on  the  port  side  the  captain  sent 
me  up  to  load  these.  I  crammed  them  with  bullets  up  to  the 
muzzle,  and  then  ran  them  to  the  poop  railing,  and  placed 
one  of  the  hands  there  with  a  lighted  match.  We  had  a 
tough  ten  minutes  of  it,  and  if  the  canoes  had  come  up  at  the 
same  time  as  the  proas  it  would  have  gone  hard  with  us;  but 
the  last  broadside  that  had  been  poured  in  had  sunk  two  of  the 
big  craft,  and  the  other  had  drifted  away,  so  that,  in  fact,  we 
had  only  the  shore  canoes  to  cope  with.  We  had  hard  work 
to  keep  them  back,  but  none  of  the  natives  managed  to  cross 
the  netting  along  the  waist  of  the  ship,  though  a  few  shoved 
themselves  through  holes  that  they  hacked  with  their  creases. 


IN    THE    MALAY    ARCHIPELAGO  47 

"  Some  managed  to  swarm  up  by  the  cable  on  to  the  bows, 
but  three  men  who  were  stationed  there  disposed  of  them  be- 
fore enough  could  gain  a  footing  to  be  dangerous.  The  cap- 
tain had  been  keeping  the  guns  in  reserve  in  case  the  proa  that 
had  dropped  behind  at  first  should  come  on,  but  he  now  saw 
that  she  was  low  in  the  water,  and  that  many  of  the  Malays 
were  jumping  overboard.  He  therefore  shouted  out : 

' ' '  Give  them  both  broadsides.  Aim  into  the  thick  of 
them. ' 

"That  broadside  settled  it;  seven  or  eight  of  their  big 
canoes  were  smashed  up ;  several  of  the  others  turned  and 
paddled  to  the  shore ;  and  a  moment  later,  the  men  who  were 
attacking  us  leapt  into  the  boats  alongside  and  followed  their 
example. 

"'  Load  as  quickly  as  you  can,'  the  captain  cried,  'and 
give  them  a  parting  salute. '  We  ran  the  two  little  quarter- 
deck guns  over  and  peppered  them  with  bullets,  and  the  other 
guns  joined  in  as  soon  as  they  were  reloaded. 

"  That  finished  the  matter.  Our  loss  was  not  heavy,  con- 
sidering what  a  hard  fight  it  had  been.  We  had  but  two 
killed,  and  seven  or  eight  wounded  by  their  spears ;  while 
they  must  have  suffered  frightfully.  In  the  morning  the  cap- 
tain called  the  crew  aft,  and  made  a  speech  thanking  them  for 
their  conduct,  and  saying  that  they  owed  their  safety  and  that 
of  the  ship  to  the  first  mate  and  myself,  and  that  the  night's 
work  would  be  a  lesson  that  he  should  never  forget.  He  pri- 
vately said  the  same  thing  to  us,  and  there  was  no  doubt  that 
it  was  the  first  mate  who  saved  the  ship. 

"  This  and  the  other  affair  were  a  lesson  to  me  as  well  as  to 
the  captain.  No  matter  how  friendly  the  natives  might  ap- 
pear, from  that  day  I  have  never  anchored  among  the  islands 
without  having  half  my  guns  double-shotted,  and  the  other 
half  loaded  with  grape ;  and  there  is  always  an  officer  and 


48  WITH    COCHRANE    THE   DAUNTLESS 

half  a  watch  on  deck,  so  that,  whatever  happens  to  us,  it  will 
not  be  because  I  have  been  caught  napping.  On  both  those 
occasions  the  captains  well-nigh  lost  ship  and  crew  by  their 
carelessness. ' ' 

For  several  weeks  they  cruised  among  the  islands  bartering 
goods  with  the  natives  of  sea-coast  villages.  At  most  of  these 
the  captain  had  touched  on  previous  voyages,  and  as  soon  as 
the  ship  was  recognized  the  canoes  came  off  freely.  Stephen 
gradually  got  rid  of  the  goods  he  had  purchased  at  Calcutta. 
Knowing  nothing  of  the  respective  value  of  the  bird  skins,  he 
was  guided  simply  by  their  rarity.  Of  skins  of  which  num- 
bers were  brought  on  board,  he  bought  none,  however  brill- 
iant the  plumage ;  but  whenever  he  saw  one  that  was  new  to 
him  he  at  once  made  an  offer  for  it.  But  as  this  was  seldom, 
his  box  filled  but  slowly,  until  one  day  he  went  ashore  with 
the  captain,  the  first  mate,  and  twelve  sailors  armed  to  the 
teeth,  to  pay  a  visit  to  the  chief.  On  the  few  occasions  on 
which  he  had  landed  he  always  carried  with  him  a  hand-bag 
filled  full  of  trade  goods.  On  the  present  occasion,  after  the 
feasting  had  gone  on  for  some  time,  he  stole  out  from  the 
chief's  hut.  The  men  were  sitting  down  in  front  drinking 
palm  wine,  but  keeping  a  vigilant  eye  upon  the  movements  of 
the  natives.  Presently  one  of  the  Malays  came  up  to  him  and 
touched  his  bag,  as  if  to  ask  what  were  its  contents.  He 
brought  out  two  or  three  small  looking-glasses,  some  large 
brass  necklaces,  and  a  few  of  the  cheap  bangles  and  rings  set 
with  coloured  glass,  used  by  the  Hindoo  peasant  women.  The 
native  pointed  to  a  hut  near,  and  beckoned  to  Steve  to  follow 
him. 

"Jim,  you  may  as  well  come  with  me,"  Stephen  said  to 
one  of  the  sailors.  "  I  think  this  fellow  wants  to  trade  with 
me  ;  but  they  are  treacherous  beggars,  and  I  don't  care  about 
going  with  him  by  myself." 


IN    THE    MALAY   ARCHIPELAGO  49 

The  sailor  got  up  and  followed  him  across  to  the  hut.  The 
Malay  was  evidently  a  chief  of  some  importance,  and  Stephen 
thought  that  he  might  be  possessed  of  articles  of  a  better  class 
than  those  usually  offered.  In  one  corner  of  the  hut  stood  a 
seaman's  chest  with  several  small  cases  round  it.  It  needed 
but  a  glance  to  show  that  the  latter  were  two  chronometers 
and  three  quadrants. 

"  The  scoundrels  have  been  plundering  a  ship,  Jim." 

' '  Ay,  ay,  your  honour,  there  is  not  much  doubt  about  that. 
I  should  like  to  knock  the  black  villain  on  the  head." 

The  chief  caught  the  tone  of  anger,  and  made  a  variety  of 
signs  to  the  effect  that  there  had  been  a  great  storm,  and  that 
a  ship  had  been  driven  ashore  and  wrecked. 

"  Ay,  ay,  that  is  all  very  well,"  the  sailor  growled  ;  "  but 
that  won't  do  for  us.  Those  chronometers  would  never  have 
floated,  and  them  polished  cases  have  never  been  in  the  water." 

"  Never  mind,  Jim  ;  it  won't  do  to  look  suspicious."  He 
pointed  to  the  chronometers,  and  asked  by  signs  how  much 
was  wanted  for  them.  He  took  out  four  looking-glasses,  two 
brass  chains,  and  three  or  four  bead  necklaces.  The  chief 
looked  doubtful;  but  when  Stephen  added  a  crimson  silk 
handkerchief  he  closed  with  the  bargain  at  once.  He  would 
indeed  have  given  them  for  the  looking-glasses  alone  if  Stephen 
had  held  out  for  them,  for  he  regarded  the  chronometers  with 
a  certain  sense  of  dread ;  they  were  to  him  mysteries,  having 
made,  when  first  brought  ashore,  a  ticking  noise,  and  were 
generally  considered  to  be  in  some  way  alive.  They  were, 
therefore,  left  out  in  the  air  for  some  days,  and  it  was  then 
found  that  they  were,  as  supposed,  dead.  None  of  the  other 
natives  would  have  given  them  house-room ;  but  the  chief, 
who  was  less  superstitious  than  the  majority  of  the  tribe,  had 
brought  them  into  his  hut,  although  he  had  not  had  sufficient 
courage  to  break  them  up  for  the  sake  of  the  brass. 


50  WITH    COCHRANE    THE    DAUNTLESS 

Having  disposed  of  these  the  chief  opened  the  lid  of  the 
chest.  He  took  out  some  clothes  and  held  them  up,  but 
Stephen  shook  his  head  decidedly.  Then  he  brought  out  a 
gold  watch  and  a  heavy  bag ;  he  untied  the  latter,  and 
handed  it  to  Stephen  for  inspection.  The  lad  had  difficulty 
in  repressing  an  exclamation,  for  it  was  full  of  guineas,  but 
put  it  down  and  placed  the  watch  beside  it,  assumed  an  air  of 
indifference,  and  then  made  up  another  pile  of  about  equal 
value  to  the  first,  but  threw  in  a  couple  of  dozen  brass 
buttons.  The  chief  nodded,  and  Stephen  slipped  the  bag 
and  watch  into  his  coat  pocket.  While  this  transaction 
had  been  going  on,  Jim  had  carried  the  boxes  containing 
the  chronometers  and  quadrants  to  his  comrades. 

"Anything  more,  sir?"  he  asked,  as  he  appeared  at  the 
door  of  the  hut. 

"  Nothing  more  to  carry,  Jim,  as  far  as  I  am  concerned ; 
but  there  is  a  good  pea-jacket  and  some  togs  in  that  chest.  I 
have  no  doubt  that  it  belonged  to  the  captain  of  the  ship ; 
they  have  cut  off  all  the  buttons.  I  will  buy  them  for  you." 

The  coat  and  trousers,  and  half  a  dozen  shirts  were,  to 
Jim's  great  delight,  purchased  for  him.  Stephen  then  ex- 
amined the  whole  contents  of  the  chest,  thinking  that  some 
papers  might  be  found  that  would  give  a  clue  to  the  name  of 
the  ship  that  it  had  belonged  to,  but  nothing  of  the  sort  was 
discovered.  However,  he  bought  the  whole  of  the  clothes, 
and,  calling  in  the  sailors  one  by  one,  divided  them  among 
them,  and  then  went  back  and  joined  the  captain. 

"  I  have  been  doing  some  trading,  captain,"  he  whispered 
to  him.  "It  is  white  plunder  ;  and  I  have  no  doubt  that  a 
ship  has  been  surprised  and  her  crew  massacred  somewhere 
near  here.  I  have  bought  the  chronometers  and  quadrants, 
and  they  have  certainly  not  been  in  the  water ;  also  the  con- 
tents of  a  sea-chest,  which  I  divided  among  the  men.  .  There 


A    CYCLONE  51 

were  no  papers  of  any  kind,  but  from  the  appearance  of  the 
chronometers,  I  should  say  that  they  cannot  have  been  here 
long." 

The  captain  nodded. 

"  We  will  talk  it  over  when  we  get  on  board,  Steve.  We 
will  be  off  at  once,  for  these  fellows  are  beginning  to  get 
drunk  with  this  beastly  liquor  of  theirs,  and  it  is  best  that  we 
should  get  out  of  the  place  before  there  is  any  excuse  for  a 
quarrel." 

A  few  minutes  later  they  took  their  seats  in  the  boat  and 
rowed  off  to  the  ship. 


CHAPTER  III 

A   CYCLONE 

AS  soon  as  they  arrived  on  board,  Captain  Finder  ex- 
amined the  chronometers  and  pronounced  them  to  be 
excellent  ones. 

"  I  would  not  wind  them  up  until  it  is  Greenwich  time 
as  they  now  stand,  and  would  then  compare  them  with  our 
own." 

"Of  course,  sir,"  Stephen  said,  "  I  have  bought  these  not 
for  myself  but  for  the  ship." 

"  Not  at  all,  Steve;  you  have  traded  as  you  have  a  right 
to  do,  and  the  ship  has  nothing  to  do  with  it.  At  the  same 
time  I  don't  know  whether  you  will  be  able  to  keep  or  sell 
them.  I  must  give  notice  on  our  return  home  that  such 
things  have  been  found  here  under  circumstances  that  leave 
no  doubt  that  the  crew  of  the  ship  to  which  they  belonged 
have  been  massacred,  and  the  ship  herself  burned.  No  doubt 
owners  of  vessels  that  have  been  missing  will  call  at  the  office 


52  WITH    COCHRANE   THE    DAUNTLESS 

to  inspect  the  chronometers.  I  do  not  say  that  anyone  would 
have  a  legal  right  to  them  ;  they  have  been  absolutely  lost 
and  gone  out  of  their  possession,  and  you  have  bought  them 
in  the  way  of  fair  trade. ' ' 

"  If  they  wish  to  have  them  back  again,  sir,  of  course  I 
will  give  them  up." 

"  Well,  at  any  rate,  if  you  did  so,  lad,  you  would  get  a 
reward  proportionate  to  their  value.  However,  they  may 
never  be  claimed.  Owners  whose  ships  are  missing,  and  who 
have  received  the  insurance  money,  are  not  likely  to  trouble 
themselves  further  in  the  matter." 

"This  is  not  all  I  have,  sir,"  Stephen  went  on.  "  I  also 
got  this  gold  watch  and  this  bag  of  money.  I  suppose  the 
chest  belonged  to  the  captain,  and  that  he  carried  this  gold 
with  him  for  the  purchase  of  stores. ' ' 

"  You  are  a  lucky  fellow,  Steve.  Come  down  into  my 
cabin  and  we  will  count  the  money.  Two  hundred  guineas," 
he  went  on,  when  they  had  finished;  "well,  that  is  about 
the  best  bit  of  trade  that  I  have  seen  done ;  you  had  better 
hand  this  over  to  me  to  keep." 

"  Oh,  I  don't  mean  it  to  be  kept,  sir,"  Stephen  said  ;  "it 
would  not  be  fair  at  all.  I  would  not  think  of  it.  It  is  like 
prize-money,  and  ought  to  be  divided  in  the  same  way.  I 
don't  mind  keeping  the  gold  watch  just  now,  but  if  we  find 
out  the  name  of  the  ship  when  we  get  back  to  England,  I 
should  wish  to  send  it  to  the  widow  of  the  captain,  and  the 
money  too,  if  it  belonged  to  him." 

"There  is  no  chance  whatever  of  that,  lad.  No  captain 
would  be  fool  enough  to  bring  out  a  lot  of  gold  like  that  on 
his  own  account.  It  was  certainly  ship's  money  that  he 
would  hold  for  making  advances  to  the  crew ;  as  for  the 
purchase  of  stores,  he  would  pay  for  them  by  bills  on  the 
owner.  But  still,  you  are  no  doubt  right  about  the  watch, 


A    CYCLONE  53 

and  the  poor  fellow's  widow  would,  doubtless,  be  glad  to 
have  it ;  as  to  the  gold,  I  will  take  charge  of  it  for  the 
present.  We  will  talk  the  matter  over  again  later  on  ;  there 
is  no  occasion  to  come  to  any  decision  about  it.  At  present 
it  is  entirely  yours.  I  don't  think  that  you  have  any  right  to 
give  up  a  sum  of  money  like  this  without,  at  any  rate,  very 
careful  consideration.  It  is  a  sum  that,  divided  up  into 
shares,  would  give  but  a  very  small  amount  to  each  on  board, 
while  it  might  be  of  the  most  material  service  to  you  some 
day  or  other.  But  please  oblige  me  by  saying  nothing  what- 
ever about  it  at  present.  Whatever  decision  is  arrived  at  in 
matters  of  this  sort,  somebody  is  sure  to  feel  aggrieved,  and  it 
is  astonishing  what  little  things  upset  a  crew,  especially  on  a 
voyage  of  this  kind,  where  there  is  no  such  controlling  influ- 
ence over  the  men's  minds  as  that  exercised  by  touching  at 
ports  where  there  are  authorities  to  whom,  in  case  of  neces- 
sity, the  captain  can  appeal." 

"  Very  well,  sir,  I  will,  of  course,  do  as  you  wish.  Shall 
I  say  anything  about  the  watch  ?  ' ' 

"  Yes  ;  there  is  no  objection  to  your  doing  that,  especially 
as  that  must  be  mentioned  in  any  inquiries  we  may  make  as 
to  any  ship  being  missing,  and  there  is  no  need  for  any 
secrecy  about  it.  I  shall  also  mention  the  money  to  the 
officers ;  they  will  appreciate  the  offer  that  you  have  made, 
and  agree  with  me,  I  am  sure,  that  it  will  be  better  that 
nothing  should  be  said  to  the  crew." 

That  evening  the  first  mate  said  to  Stephen  :  "  The  captain 
has  been  telling  us  about  that  bag  of  money  you  got  hold  of, 
Steve,  and  we  all  think  that  your  offer  to  treat  it  as  if  it  were 
prize-money  is  a  very  kind  one,  but  we  agree  with  him  that 
it  would  be  a  mistake.  In  the  first  place,  the  money  wouldn't 
go  far.  In  any  matter  of  that  sort  the  ship,  that  is  to  say  the 
owners,  take  a  large  share  to  begin  with,  the  officers  take  some. 


54  WITH   COCHRANE   THE    DAUNTLESS 

shares,  and  the  men's  shares  would  not  come  to  a  pound  a 
.head.  A  pound  a  head  would  only  suffice  for  them  to  have 
a  drunken  spree  on  shore,  but  they  are  just  as  well  without 
that,  and,  as  the  captain  says,  it  is  astonishing  what  little 
things  upset  sailors'  minds.  They  might  take  it  into  their 
head  that  as  you  got  two  hundred  pounds  in  that  hut  there 
might  be  a  lot  more,  and  they  would  be  wanting  to  land  and 
to  turn  the  village  upside  down,  and  there  would  be  blood- 
shed and  all  sorts  of  trouble.  The  old  saying,  '  Least  said, 
soonest  mended,'  comes  in  here  strongly.  We  have,  so  far, 
got  on  very  well  with  the  natives  this  voyage,  and  I  hope 
that  we  shall  continue  to  do  so  to  the  end.  I  quite  allow  that 
we  should  all  of  us  be  glad  to  give  a  sharp  lesson  to  that  vil- 
lage ashore.  They  have  been  plundering,  and  I  have  no 
doubt  murdering,  the  crew  of  some  ship.  Still,  we  have  no 
evidence  of  that,  and  we  can't  attack  the  village  on  mere  sup- 
position. They  have  been  friendly  enough  with  us,  partly 
because  we  have  been  here  before,  and  the  captain  gets  on 
well  with  them,  but  more  because  they  are  perfectly  well 
aware  that  we  are  always  on  guard,  and  that  there  is  no 
chance  whatever  of  their  catching  us  asleep.  In  nine  cases 
out  of  ten  it  is  the  carelessness  and  over-confidence  of  sailors 
that  tempt  the  natives  to  take  advantage  of  it ;  they  would 
never  have  shown  you  these  things  if  they  had  had  any  idea 
of  attacking  us." 

Next  morning  the  operation  of  filling  up  the  water-tanks 
was  completed,  and  at  noon  the  orders  were  given  to  weigh 
anchor.  Steve  saw  how  rightly  the  captain  had  foreseen 
what  was  likely  to  happen,  for  no  sooner  was  the  order  given 
than  two  of  the  men  came  aft  as  a  deputation  from  the  crew. 

"  What  is  it,  lads  ?  "  he  asked. 

"Well,  captain,  the  boat's  crew  that  went  ashore  yester- 
.day  came  off  with  a  lot  of  togs  that  must,  in  course,  have 


A   CYCLONE  55 

been  taken  from  some  seaman's  chest.  Now,  it  seems  to  us  as 
that  chest  could  not  have  been  there  by  fair  means,  and  that, 
like  enough,  they  had  been  murdering  and  looting  some 
vessel  here ;  and,  for  aught  we  know,  the  place  may  be  full  of 
plunder  of  some  sort  or  another,  and  that,  may  be,  there  are 
twenty  or  thirty  other  seamen's  chests  there,  and  other  goods. 
It  seems  to  us,  sir,  that  these  chaps  ought  to  be  punished,  and 
that  we  should  try  to  get  as  much  of  the  plunder  they  have 
got  hidden  as  we  can ;  therefore,  the  crew  beg  that  you  will 
sanction  our  going  ashore  and  tackling  them." 

"  No,  lads,  I  can't  sanction  that,"  the  captain  said.  "It 
is  true  that  Mr.  Embleton  was  offered  by  one  of  their  chiefs 
some  chronometers  and  the  contents  of  a  sea-chest.  He  bought 
the  chronometers,  and  he  also  bought  the  contents  of  the  chest 
and  divided  them  among  the  men  who  went  ashore.  The 
chief  made  signs  to  him  that  these  things  had  been  saved  from 
a  ship  that  had  been  wrecked,  and  it  is  possible  that  it  may 
be  so.  It  may  not  have  been  wrecked  on  this  island,  and 
those  things  may  have  been  the  share  of  one  of  the  canoes 
from  here  that  assisted  in  looting  her ;  at  any  rate,  we  have 
no  proof  that  the  vessel  was  boarded  and  captured.  If  it  had 
been  done  here,  I  think  we  should  have  seen  more  signs  of  it 
among  the  natives  who  have  come  out  to  the  ship  or  on  shore. 
There  would  have  been  more  trade  goods  about — handker- 
chiefs, and  beads,  and  so  on,  and  they  would  not  have  been 
anxious  to  trade  with  us.  At  any  rate,  there  are  no  grounds 
for  attacking  a  village  that  has,  during  the  last  three  or  four 
days,  traded  peacefully  with  us,  as  they  have  done  on  several 
different  occasions  when  I  have  put  in  here.  Even  if  there 
were  no  other  reason,  I  should  refuse  to  allow  them  to  be 
attacked,  because  the  news  of  the  affair  would  spread  from 
island  to  island,  and  next  time  we  were  in  these  seas  we 
should  do  no  trade,  and  should  certainly  be  attacked  if  we 


56  WITH    COCHRANE   THE    DAUNTLESS 

gave  them  a  chance.  Of  course  I  shall  report  the  circum- 
stances connected  with  the  discovery  of  this  chest  at  Calcutta, 
and  endeavour  to  find  out  what  ship  has  been  lately  missing ; 
beyond  that  we  can  do  nothing  in  the  matter.  We  are 
traders ;  if  we  are  attacked  we  do  our  best  to  beat  off  the 
assailants,  but  it  would  be  altogether  beyond  our  business  to 
attack  sea-side  villages  because  we  find  that  they  are  in  the 
possession  of  ships'  goods,  for  were  we  to  do  so  we  should 
soon  put  an  end  to  all  trade  in  these  islands.  Go  back  and 
tell  your  comrades  this,  and  then  muster  at  once  and  heave 
the  cable  short." 

The  orders  were  obeyed,  but  it  was  evident  that  there  was 
a  lack  of  the  usual  briskness  and  willingness.  However,  before 
the  ship  had  been  many  hours  on  her  way,  matters  settled 
down  and  the  work  went  on  as  usual. 

"  You  see,  lad,"  the  first  officer  said  to  Stephen  as  the  sails 
were  sheeted  home,  and  the  Tiger  glided  away  from  her 
anchorage,  "  the  captain  was  quite  right,  and  if  it  had  been 
known  on  the  ship  that  you  had  got  that  money,  there  would 
have  been  a  good  deal  more  trouble  than  there  was.  It  would 
have  been  no  good  to  tell  them  that,  no  doubt,  it  was  the 
ship's  money.  Sailors  are  like  children  ;  they  would  have 
argued  that  if  you  could  obtain  two  hundred  pounds  from 
one  hut,  they  would  each  be  likely  to  get  as  much  in  a  gen- 
eral loot  of  the  village.  You  see,  giving  them  those  togs 
you  bought  was  enough  to  stir  them  up,  and  things  would 
not  have  passed  off  so  pleasantly  had  they  known  about  the 
money. 

"I  do  not  say  that  there  would  have  been  a  mutiny,  or 
anything  of  that  sort,  because  the  great  majority  of  them  have 
sailed  for  years  under  the  skipper ;  still,  there  would  have  been 
great  discontent  and  grumbling,  and  if  there  happened  to  be 
among  the  new  hands  one  or  two  sea-lawyers,  they  might 


A   CYCLONE  57 

have  workqd  upon  the  men,  and  caused  a  great  deal  of 
trouble. ' ' 

"  I  see  that,  sir,"  Steve  said. 

"Well,  there  is  no  harm  done,  lad,  and  you  will  see  that 
in  a  day  or  two  the  matter  will  have  been  forgotten.  But  it 
is  a  lesson  that  you  may  profit  by  ;  it  is  always  best  to  avoid 
anything  that,  even  remotely,  is  likely  to  set  sailors  talking 
together.  All  crews  are  not  as  trustworthy  as  the  Tiger's, 
and  you  would  be  astonished  what  mischief  two  or  three  cun- 
ning, plausible  rascals  can  do  among  a  crew,  if  they  have  got 
ever  so  small  a  grievance  to  work  upon." 

A  week  later  the  ship  was  passing  along  the  coast  of  a 
small  island  when  Joyce,  the  eldest  apprentice,  who  was  ex- 
amining the  shore  through  a  glass,  said  to  the  second  officer  : 

' '  There  is  a  wreck  of  some  sort,  sir,  in  among  those  black 
rocks. ' ' 

"So  there  is,"  the  mate  said,  shading  his  eyes  with  his 
hand.  "  I  see  it  plainly  enough  now  that  you  call  my  atten- 
tion to  it." 

He  went  aft  and  reported  it  to  the  captain,  who  came  out 
and  examined  it  carefully  with  his  glass. 

"It  is  a  wreck  certainly,  and  not  the  work  of  the  natives 
this  time,"  he  said.  "  She  has  been  blown  on  shore  and 
left  almost  high  and  dry;  her  spars  are  all  gone,  the  bul- 
warks are  swept  away,  and  though  I  cannot  see  the  line  of  her 
broadside,  I  fancy  that  she  has  broken  in  two.  Anyhow,  as 
we  have  hardly  steerage  way,  we  shall  lose  no  time  by  sending 
to  find  out  what  ship  she  is.  Mr.  Towel,  you  might  as  well 
lower  the  gig.  Take  six  men  ;  let  them  all  take  muskets  and 
pistols  with 'them.  As  Mr.  Joyce  was  the  first  to  make  her 
out  he  may  as  well  go  with  you.  If  you  see  no  signs  of  natives, 
you  can  land  and  ascertain  whether  she  has  been  plundered. 
It  may  be  that  she  has  not  been  discovered  yet  by  the  na- 


58  WITH   COCHRANE   THE   DAUNTLESS 

tives.  If  you  see  any  of  them  about,  content  yourself  with 
getting  the  ship's  name  and  port  from  her  stern." 

The  boat  was  lowered. 

"  You  may  go  too,  Steve,"  he  added  as  Stephen  was  look- 
ing down  into  the  boat.  "  It  is  Mr.  Archer's  turn  ;  but  as 
he  has  got  a  touch  of  fever  this  morning,  he  is  better  sitting 
under  the  shade  of  that  sail  than  in  an  open  boat." 

"  Thank  you  very  much,  sir,"  Stephen  said,  and,  running 
below,  shoved  his  pistols  into  his  pocket. 

"  You  have  got  water  in  the  boat?  "  the  captain  asked  the 
mate  just  as  Steve  returned  on  deck. 

"The  keg  is  about  half- full,  sir,"  he  said  as  one  of  the 
sailors  lifted  and  shook  it. 

4  •  Hand  them  another  down  from  the  long-boat, ' '  the  cap- 
tain said,  turning  to  one  of  the  men  ;  "  it  is  better  always  to 
make  sure.  Mr.  Towel,"  he  went  on,  leaning  over  the  side, 
"one  is  never  sure  of  the  weather  for  an  hour,  and  I  don't 
altogether  like  the  colour  of  the  sky  now.  But  if  there  are  no 
signs  of  change  aloft,  and  you  see  the  natives  have  not  been 
near  the  place,  give  a  look  round  beyond  the  rocks  for  any- 
thing that  might  show  whether  some  of  the  crew  got  ashore — 
fires  made,  or  anything  of  that  sort.  Should  you  see  signs, 
we  will  fire  a  gun  or  two  when  you  return,  and  lay  off  for 
a  few  hours  to  give  them  a  chance  of  coming  down  to  the 
beach." 

"  Ay,  ay,  sir,"  the  mate  said,  "  I  will  take  a  look  round 
for  them ;  but  from  the  way  she  has  been  thrown  up  I  should 
doubt  whether  there  is  the  slightest  chance  of  anyone  having 
got  ashore." 

The  captain  nodded,  then  the  mate  gave  the  word,  and  the 
boat  pushed  off  from  the  ship.  Four  men  rowed,  two  sat  in  the 
bow,  Mr.  Towel  and  the  two  apprentices  sat  aft.  They  were 
some  three  miles  from  shore.  There  was  a  ripple  on  the  water, 


A   CYCLONE  59 

but  the  wind  was  very  light.  There  was,  however,  a  ground- 
swell  that  had  caused  the  Tiger  to  roll,  but  which  was  scarcely 
perceptible  in  the  boat.  Steve  remarked  on  this. 

"  No,"  the  mate  said,  "  these  long  swells  do  not  affect  a 
boat  in  the  least.  I  have  often  gone  ashore  on  the  west  coast 
of  Africa,  when  one  was  scarcely  conscious  in  the  boat  of 
there  being  any  swell  on  at  all,  and  yet  the  vessels  at  anchor 
outside  were  rolling  almost  gunwale  under.  Still,  I  would 
rather  that  we  had  not  got  it,  it  is  a  sign  that  there  is  wind 
somewhere,  and  I  agree  with  the  skipper  that  it  is  an  unnatu- 
ral-looking sky.  Still,  it  may  be  hours  yet  before  there  is  any 
change. ' ' 

Half  an  hour's  rowing  took  them  to  shore.  "She  could 
not  have  picked  out  a  worse  place,  lads,"  the  mate  said 
when  they  approached  the  wreck.  ' '  You  see  there  are  black 
heads  sticking  out  of  the  water  all  round,  and  it  must  have 
been  a  tremendous  sea  to  have  carried  that  ship  right  through 
them  and  chucked  her  up  there  where  there  are  not  two  feet 
of  water." 

"The  Lady  Vernon,  London,"  Joyce  exclaimed  at  this 
moment,  "  I  can  make  out  her  name  plainly." 

"  Then  your  eyes  are  better  than  mine,  Joyce,  for  I  can't 
say  I  can  read  it  yet.  Row  easy,  men,  and  you  in  the  bow 
keep  a  sharp  look-out  on  the  water.  If  we  were  to  come 
bow-on  to  a  hidden  rock  we  should  have  to  wait  ashore  until 
another  boat  came  out  to  fetch  us. ' ' 

Rowing  very  gently  the  boat  kept  on  her  course  until 
within  half  a  length  of  the  ship,  then  she  ran  quietly  up  on  a 
flat  rock  some  seven  or  eight  inches  under  water.  They  could 
see  now  that  the  captain's  conjecture  was  correct.  The  ship 
had  broken  her  back,  having,  as  she  was  carried  in  on  the 
crest  of  a  great  wave,  dropped  on  a  sharp  ledge  of  rocks  about 
amidships.  The  sea  had  rushed  in  through  the  hole  in  her 


60  WITH   COCHRANE   THE   DAUNTLESS 

side,  and  had  torn  away  all  her  planking  and  most  of  her 
timbers  forward,  while  the  after  part  of  the  ship  had  held 
together.  The  hold,  however,  was  gutted  of  its  contents. 

"  The  natives  have  not  been  here  since,"  Steve  said  as  he 
pointed  ahead  where,  apparently  far  out  of  reach  of  the  water, 
lay  a  quantity  of  wreckage,  splinters  of  planks,  bits  of  timber, 
bales  of  goods,  and  a  great  litter  of  loose  cargo. 

"It  is  of  no  use  climbing  up  above,"  the  mate  said  in 
answer  to  an  offer  on  Joyce's  part  to  endeavour  to  reach  the 
deck.  ' '  The  waves,  you  see,  have  rushed  in  through  the 
stern  windows,  and  have  made  a  clean  sweep  of  everything. 
Half  the  deck  has  burst  up  and  gone.  We  will  have  a  look 
at  the  things  on  shore.  Step  out,  lads,  and  pull  the  boat  a 
bit  higher  up. ' ' 

This  was  done,  and  they  waded  through  the  water  knee- 
deep  to  shore.  The  wreckage  lay  a  hundred  yards  further  up, 
on  ground  quite  twenty  feet  higher  than  that  on  which  they 
were  standing.  The  bales  were  all  marked  with  the  ship's 
name.  There  were  no  signs  of  casks  or  boxes,  these  had 
doubtless  been  smashed  into  splinters.  Among  the  wreckage 
five  skeletons  were  found.  They  searched  further  inland,  but 
could  discover  no  sign  whatever  of  life  between  the  shore  and 
a  dense  forest  that  began  four  or  five  hundred  yards  away. 

"It  is  certain  that  no  one  has  escaped,"  the  mate  said. 
"  In  the  first  place,  no  living  creature  could  have  ever  gained 
his  feet  if  cast  up  by  such  a  sea  as  that  must  have  been.  The 
first  wave  that  struck  her  after  she  was  thrown  up  there  must 
have  swept  the  decks  clean  and  finished  them  all  at  one  blow. 
In  the  next  place,  if  by  a  miracle  any  of  them  did  get  safely 
ashore,  you  may  be  sure  that  they  would  have  buried  their 
comrades  the  next  morning.  You  see,  it  is  sand  up  there 
where  the  wreckage  lies,  and  it  would  not  have  taken  long  to 
scrape  a  hole  deep  enough  and  large  enough  to  bury  them. 


A    CYCLONE  61 

Ah!  the  captain  is  getting  impatient,"  he  exclaimed,  as  the 
sound  of  a  gun  came  cross  the  water.  "  No  wonder,"  he 
went  on  as  he  looked  at  the  sky. 

They  had  been  about  an  hour  on  shore,  and  had  been  so 
fully  occupied  in  examining  the  wreckage,  and  in  looking  for 
some  signs  that  might  tell  them  if  any  of  the  crew  had  gained 
the  shore,  that  they  had  paid  no  attention  whatever  to  the 
weather.  A  great  change  had  taken  place  since  they  had  left 
the  ship.  The  wind  had  entirely  died  away,  and  a  darkness 
had  crept  over  the  sky ;  it  was  not  a  cloud,  but  a  sort  of  dull 
vapour. 

"  Quick,  lads,  to  the  boat,"  the  mate  said,  "  there  is  not  a 
moment  to  be  lost.  There  is  a  storm  brewing,  and  the  sooner 
we  are  on  board  the  better. ' ' 

They  ran  through  the  water,  got  into  the  boat,  and  pushed 
her  off. 

"  Be  careful,  men ;  paddle  quietly  until  we  are  well  beyond 
the  rocks.  Keep  a  sharp  look-out  forward."  Another  gun 
was  fired  from  the  ship  as  he  spoke.  "  Steady,  men, 
steady  !  "  he  said ;  "  you  can  row  as  hard  as  you  like  when  we 
get  outside,  but  it  is  of  no  use  knocking  a  hole  in  her  to  start 
with." 

As  soon  as  they  were  beyond  the  rocks  they  bent  to  the 
oars.  At  the  mate's  orders,  the  two  apprentices  and  the 
sailors  in  the  bow  took  their  seats  by  the  rowers  and  double- 
banked  the  oars. 

"  The  skipper  is  getting  every  rag  of  sail  off  her,"  the  mate 
said,  as  he  looked  ahead.  "  There  is  another  gun  !  It  is 
getting  darker  and  darker,  I  don't  suppose  they  can  make  us 
out.  Give  way,  lads." 

The  gloom  deepened  rapidly.  The  ship  continued  to  fire 
guns  every  minute  or  two,  and  it  was  well  she  did  so,  for  the 
mate  had  now  lost  sight  of  her. 


62  WITH    COCHRANE   THE    DAUNTLESS 

"Which  way  do  you  think  it  will  come,  sir?"  Stephen, 
who  was  at  the  stroke-oar,  asked. 

The  mate  shook  his  head.  "There  is  no  knowing,"  he 
said.  "  If  it  is  inshore,  the  Tiger  will  lay  her  bones  by  that 
wreck  behind  us.  We  can't  be  above  a  mile  away  from  her 
by  the  sound  of  that  last  gun.  But  it  will  be  a  close  thing,  I 
can  hear  the  wind  coming." 

Even  those  rowing  were  conscious  of  a  low  moaning  sound. 

"It  comes  from  behind  I  think,"  the  mate  said  in  answer 
to  a  look  from  Stephen.  Suddenly  a  puff  of  wind  from  be- 
hind rippled  the  water  round  them  and  then  died  away  again. 
"  Row,  lads,"  the  mate  exclaimed,  "  I  can  see  the  ship  now, 
she  is  not  half  a  mile  away ;  five  minutes  will  do  it." 

The  men  strained  at  the  oars  and  the  boat  sprang  forward 
at  every  stroke.  They  could  hear  the  moaning  sound  growing 
louder  and  louder. 

"  The  captain  has  got  her  head  off  shore,"  the  mate  said  ; 
"  he  has  been  towing  her  round.  They  have  just  hoisted  the 
boat  up.  He  has  got  the  little  storm-jib  on  her.  Now,  lads, 
another  four  or  five  hundred  yards  and  we  shall  be  along- 
side." 

It  was  a  race  with  the  storm,  but  the  odds  were  too  great. 
They  were  but  a  hundred  yards  from  the  ship  when  the  roar 
rose  into  a  wild  scream,  and  a  line  of  white  water  sprang 
towards  them  with  fearful  velocity. 

"  In  oars,  men  !  "  the  mate  shouted.  "  Throw  yourselves 
flat  in  the  bottom  of  the  boat, — quick  !  " 

The  order  was  executed  almost  as  soon  as  given.  The 
mate,  too,  slipped  off  his  seat  on  to  the  floor-board,  while 
still  retaining  hold  of  the  tiller.  The  next  moment  the 
storm  struck  them.  It  was  well  that  the  boat  was  still  flying 
through  the  water  with  the  way  full  on  her  ;  had  she  been 
lying  motionless  she  would  probably  have  sunk  like  a  stone 


A   CYCLONE  63 

under  the  force  of  the  blow.  As  it  was  she  leapt  forward  like 
a  horse  under  a  spur.  They  passed  but  half  a  length  or  so 
from  the  ship.  The  latter  had  not  yet  gathered  way,  but  lay 
pressed  down  until  her  bow  was  well-nigh  level  with  the 
water.  As  the  mate  looked  up  he  saw  the  captain  holding  on 
by  the  shrouds.  Each  waved  a  hand  and  then  the  boat  flew 
on,  and  in  a  minute  the  ship  was  out  of  sight.  The  mate 
shouted  in  the  ear  of  the  sailor  who  rowed  the  stroke-oar  and 
who  was  lying  next  to  him : 

"  Crawl  forward  and  try  and  fix  the  floor-board  there,  so 
as  to  show  a  few  inches  above  the  bow  to  act  as  a  head-sail. 
If  she  broaches  to,  it  is  all  up  with  us.  As  you  go  along  tell 
each  man  to  shift  himself  a  bit  more  aft.  Her  stern  must  be 
well  down  or  I  can  never  keep  her  straight.  If  you  can't  fix 
the  floor-board,  get  up  the  mast ;  tie  up  the  foresail  in  a  roll, 
and  then  hoist  it,  that  will  give  hold  enough  to  the  wind." 

The  man  nodded  and  made  his  way  forward ;  he  endeav- 
oured to  carry  out  the  first  part  of  his  orders,  but  the  moment 
he  raised  the  floor-board  above  the  level  of  the  gunwale  it  was 
wrenched  from  his  hands  and  blown  ahead.  With  the  aid  of 
two  other  men  he  managed  to  step  the  mast.  The  mate 
waved  his  hand  to  him  to  say  that  that  would  do  for  the 
present.  The  man,  however,  prepared  the  sail  ready  for 
hoisting,  rolling  it  up  tightly  and  winding  a  cord  round  and 
round  it ;  then  he  hooked  the  head  on  to  the  traveller  on  the 
mast,  and  lay  down  at  its  foot,  holding  the  halliard  in  readi- 
ness to  hoist  it.  The  water  was  still  perfectly  smooth,  and 
the  boat  flew  straight  before  the  wind  without  any  tendency 
to  broach  to.  Stephen,  after  the  stroke-oar  had  gone  for- 
ward, crept  aft  until  he  was  beside  the  mate,  and  there  lay 
for  a  time,  feeling  half-stupefied  by  the  tremendous  roar  of  the 
cyclone. 

Captain  Finder  was,  as  every  good  officer  should  be,  most 


64  WITH  COCHRANE  THE  DAUNTLESS 

particular  about  his  boats,  and  always  had  them  built  specially 
from  his  own  design.  They  were  broader  than  usual,  and 
had  a  flat  floor  and  a  deep  keel,  thus  they  were  extremely 
buoyant,  their  lines  resembling  those  of  the  surf-boats  on  the 
west  coasts  of  India  and  Africa,  while  their  deep  keels  en- 
abled them  to  sail  close  to  the  wind.  The  men  chafed  some- 
times when,  on  their  way  to  shore,  they  found  themselves 
passed  by  the  narrow  boats  of  other  ships ;  but  the  captain 
was  perfectly  indifferent  to  this,  and  used  to  say  to  other 
skippers  who  laughed  at  him  for  what  they  called  his  "wal- 
nut shells :  ' ' 

"  A  boat  is  not  made  for  racing ;  she  is  made  to  carry  her 
crew  in  a  heavy  sea.  My  boats  will  live  where  yours  would 
be  swamped  in  five  minutes,  and  with  their  great  beam  they 
will  carry  all  sail,  while  you  would  not  dare  show  a  shred  of 
canvas.  It  makes  no  difference  to  me  whether  I  get  to  shore 
five  minutes  earlier  or  later ;  properly  handled,  the  smallest  of 
my  boats  ought  to  weather  any  ordinary  gale,  while  the  long- 
boat would  be  as  safe  to  cross  the  Atlantic  in  as  the  Tiger 
herself,  though  I  don't  say  that  she  would  be  as  comfortable. " 

The  crew,  every  one  of  whom  had  many  a  time  grumbled 
at  the  contrast  between  their  beamy  craft  and  the  smart  gigs 
of  most  other  ships,  now  felt  the  advantage.  The  boat  sped 
lightly  along,  raising  her  head  higher  and  higher  out  of  the 
water  whenever  a  fresh  blast  of  wind  added  to  her  speed,  and, 
save  for  the  sound  of  the  rushing  water  against  the  sides, 
might  have  been  at  rest,  for  any  motion  that  could  be  per- 
ceived. In  half  an  hour  the  sea  began  to  get  up  ;  as  soon  as 
it  did  so  the  mate  made  a  signal  to  the  man  at  the  halliards, 
and  the  sail  was  drawn  up.  Tightly  as  it  was  rolled,  the  dif- 
ference was  at  once  perceptible,  and  the  boat  flew  along  faster 
than  before.  The  men  were  now  sitting  up  in  the  bottom  of 
the  boat ;  they  knew  that  the  battle  with  the  storm  had  as  yet 


A   CYCLONE  65 

scarcely  begun,  and  that  when  the  sea  once  got  up  they  would 
have  a  terrible  time  of  it.  In  an  ordinary  ship's-boat  the 
prospect  would  have  been  absolutely  hopeless ;  but  the  Nor- 
wegian pilot-boats  —  whose  model  the  captain  had  pretty 
closely  followed — are  able  successfully  to  ride  out  the  heaviest 
gale  in  the  North  Sea,  and  the  mate  and  the  two  apprentices, 
the  latter  of  whom  had  often  heard  from  Captain  Finder, 
with  whom  the  matter  was  a  pet  hobby,  of  the  wonderful 
power  of  these  craft  in  a  gale,  entertained  a  strong  hope  that 
she  would  live  through  whatever  might  come.  As  the  sea 
rose,  a  small  portion  of  the  foresail  was  loosed,  then  more 
was  freed,  until  the  whole  of  the  little  sail  was  drawing,  and 
the  speed  with  which  it  dragged  the  boat  along  saved  her  from 
being  swamped  by  the  following  waves.  But  in  another  hour 
the  water  no  longer  ran  in  waves,  it  was  broken  up  in  a  con- 
fused and  tumultuous  sea ;  the  greater  part  of  the  sail  was 
again  bound  up,  for  there  was  no  longer  the  same  risk  of  be- 
ing swamped,  and  it  was  necessary  to  moderate  the  boat's 
speed  in  such  a  tumult  of  water. 

"  What  makes  it  like  this  ?  "  Stephen  shouted. 

"The  circular  motion  of  the  wind,"  the  mate  replied  in 
a  similar  tone  of  voice.  "  I  dare  say  we  have  made  two  or 
three  circles  already." 

"  There  is  a  compass  in  the  locker  behind  you,  sir." 

The  mate  nodded. 

"  That  may  be  useful  when  the  storm  is  over,  but  would 
not  help  us  now,  and  might  get  broken." 

That  Stephen  could  quite  understand,  for  the  motions  of 
the  boat  were  so  sudden  and  unexpected  that  the  crew  often 
grasped  at  the  thwarts  and  gunwale,  fearing  they  would  be 
thrown  right  out  of  her.  At  one  moment  a  wave  seemed  to 
rise  underneath  her,  and  almost  chuck  her  into  the  air,  then 
she  would  sink  between  two  masses  of  water,  that  looked  as  if 


66  WITH    COCHRANE    THE   DAUNTLESS 

they  would  tumble  over  and  fill  her,  then  she  would  dash 
head-forward  at  a  wave  that  rose  suddenly  in  front  of  her. 
For  a  time  it  seemed  to  all  on  board  as  if  her  destruction  was 
imminent,  but  as  the  buoyant  little  craft  struggled  bravely  on, 
— shipping  no  more  water  than  one  man  with  the  bailer  could 
free  her  of  as  fast  as  it  came  aboard,  in  the  shape  of  spray, — 
they  began  to  breathe  again  more  freely. 

It  was  now  nine  hours  since  the  gale  had  burst  upon  them, 
and  there  were  no  signs  of  an  abatement,  when,  as  they  were 
on  the  top  of  a  wave,  the  mate  shouted : 

"  There  are  breakers  ahead." 

Every  head  was  lifted,  and  when  the  boat  rose  again  on  a 
wave  they  could  see  a  line  of  white  foam  ahead  of  them  as  far 
on  either  side  as  the  eye  could  see  through  the  mist. 

"  Keep  a  look-out  for  a  break  in  the  line,  Wilcox,"  the 
mate  shouted. 

The  man  forward  waved  his  hand,  and,  holding  to  the 
mast,  stood  up.  A  minute  later  he  turned  and  shouted  some- 
thing to  the  man  next  to  him,  and  the  message  was  passed 
from  mouth  to  mouth  to  the  mate. 

"  It  is  not  a  reef,  sir  ;  it  is  a  low  sandy  coast." 

"Take  your  places  on  the  thwarts,"  the  mate  shouted, 
"  and  get  your  oars  out." 

The  men  did  so.  Then,  in  a  momentary  lull  in  the  blast, 
the  officer  said  : 

"  Get  ready  to  pull  for  your  lives  when  I  give  the  word. 
Our  only  chance  is  to  go  in  on  the  top  of  a  wave.  The  in- 
stant we  touch  the  ground  and  she  loses  her  way,  jump  out 
and  stick  your  heels  in  the  sand." 

They  approached  the  edge  of  the  surf  rapidly. 

"  Stick  your  oars  in  deep  and  check  her  way,"  the  mate 
shouted. 

He  stood  up  in  the  boat  when  they  were  within  fifty  yards 


A    CYCLONE  67 

of  the  point  where  the  waves  curled  over  and  fell  with  a 
roar  like  thunder  on  the  beach.  Two  or  three  waves  passed 
under  her,  then  he  saw  one  of  greater  height  approaching. 

"  Row,  lads  !   row  for  your  lives  !  " 

The  wind  helping  them,  they  flew  forward.  The  wave 
rose  higher  and  higher  behind  them — it  looked  almost  as 
steep  as  a  wall — and  an  involuntary  cry  broke  from  several 
of  the  men  as  the  boat's  stern  rose  up  it. 

"  Row  !  row  !  "  the  mate  shouted. 

But  six  strokes  were  pulled  and  then  the  wave  fell  over 
with  a  crash,  and  in  a  moment  they  were  shooting  along  with 
the  speed  of  an  arrow  in  the  midst  of  a  mass  of  seething  foam. 

"  Get  ready  to  jump  !  "  the  mate  shouted. 

His  voice  was  lost,  but  the  action  which  accompanied  it 
was  understood.  They  were  flying  up  a  steep  slope,  when 
suddenly  the  motion  became  slower,  then  there  was  a  bump. 

' '  Hold  to  her,  lads,  if  you  can ;  every  man  spring  over- 
board." 

For  a  moment  they  seemed  drawn  backwards  by  the  rush 
of  the  water,  then  the  boat  became  fixed,  and  a  moment  later 
the  water  left  them. 

"  Now,  all  together  before  the  next  wave  reaches  her." 

With  a  united  effort  they  lifted  and  ran  the  boat  her  own 
length  further  up.  The  next  wave  barely  reached  the  boat's 
stern.  Before  another  came  she  was  well  up  on  the  sand. 
Then  the  mate  pointed  upwards.  The  roar  of  the  surf  and 
the  howl  of  the  wind  would  have  drowned  any  words,  but 
his  gesture  was  sufficient.  Most  of  the  men  had,  like  their 
officer,  lost  their  hats,  but  those  who  had  not  done  so  took 
them  off.  Several  of  them,  including  Stephen  and  Joyce, 
threw  themselves  on  their  knees,  the  others  stood  with  bent 
heads,  and  all  uttered  a  fervent  thanksgiving  for  their  pres- 
ervation from  what  had  seemed  almost  certain  death.  The 


68  WITH    COCHRANE    THE    DAUNTLESS 

mate  was  the  first  to  move.  He  went  to  the  side  of  the  boat, 
and  began  to  take  double  handfuls  of  sand,  and  to  throw  them 
into  her.  The  others  looked  at  him  in  surprise,  but  he  made 
signs  that  the  wind  might  lift  the  boat  up,  whirl  her  round, 
and  dash  her  to  pieces ;  then  all  set  to  at  the  work,  which 
they  continued  until  the  boat  was  half-full  of  sand.  Then 
the  two  barrels  of  water  were  carried  up,  together  with  a  bag 
of  biscuits  and  a  bottle  of  rum  from  the  locker,  where  a  sup- 
ply was  always  kept  in  case  of  an  emergency  like  the  present. 
They  went  on  beyond  the  brow  of  the  sand-hill,  and  ensconced 
themselves  in  a  hollow  at  its  foot,  where  they  were  completely 
sheltered  from  the  wind.  The  mate  got  out  his  jack-knife, 
and  managed  to  get  the  cork  out  of  the  bottle,  and  pouring 
water  from  one  of  the  breakers  into  a  tin  pannikin  that 
formed  part  of  the  boat's  equipment,  gave  a  ration  of  grog 
to  each,  and  served  out  a  biscuit  all  round. 

As  soon  as  these  were  eaten  and  the  grog  drank,  they  threw 
themselves  on  the  sand  and  were  soon  fast  asleep,  utterly  worn 
out  with  the  prolonged  strain  they  had  gone  through. 

When  they  woke,  day  was  just  breaking.  The  mate  was 
the  first  to  leap  to  his  feet. 

"Tumble  up,  lads,"  he  said,  "we  must  have  had  twelve 
hours'  sleep.  The  storm  is  over. ' ' 

All  were  soon  at  the  top  of  the  sand-hill.  A  heavy  sea  was 
still  breaking  on  the  sands,  but  there  was  scarce  a  breath  of 
wind,  and  the  sea,  though  rough  and  agitated,  was  no  longer 
covered  with  white  heads,  and  looked  bright  in  the  rosy  light. 
The  boat  lay  where  they  had  left  it,  securely  anchored  by 
the  weight  of  the  sand  it  contained.  Their  next  glance  was 
inland.  For  a  quarter  of  a  mile  away  the  sand  covered 
everything,  then  a  few  bushes  rose  from  it ;  beyond  were 
some  stunted  trees,  and  a  hundred  yards  further  a  thick  forest 
bordered  the  sandy  belt  as  far  as  they  could  see  on  either  hand. 


A    CYCLONE  69 

It  was  evidently  a  large  island,  for  two  or  three  miles  away 
the  country  rose  hill  beyond  hill,  culminating  in  a  jagged 
mountain  dome  twenty  miles  distant. 

"  Do  you  know  where  we  are,  sir?  "  Stephen  asked,  as  the 
mate  stood  silently  looking  at  the  peak. 

"  No,  I  wish  I  did.  I  have  either  never  seen  that  hill  be- 
fore, or,  if  I  have,  it  has  been  from  some  other  side  that  gave 
it  quite  a  different  outline.  You  see,  we  were  nine  hours  in 
the  gale,  and  during  that  time  I  fancy  we  must  have  run 
nearly  a  hundred  miles ;  but  I  do  not  suppose  we  are  half 
that  distance  from  the  point  where  we  started,  for  we  are 
sure  to  have  gone  round  and  round  several  times  in  the  first 
hour  or  two.  The  island  we  were  at,  was  some  fifty  or  sixty 
miles  from  the  coast  of  Sumatra,  and  possibly  it  is  there  that 
we  have  been  cast  ashore ;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  we  may 
have  gone  quite  in  another  direction.  Anyhow,  there  is  no 
denying  that  we  are  in  an  awkward  fix.  It  matters  little 
enough  which  of  the  islands  we  have  hit  upon,  the  natives  are 
all  pirates  and  scoundrels,  and  the  possession  they  prize  most 
is  a  human  head.  The  first  thing  to  do,  lads,  is  to  draw  the 
charges  from  our  muskets  and  pistols  and  to  reload  them, 
then  we  will  have  a  consultation." 

This  was  done,  and  then  they  went  down  to  the  boat. 

"  I  half  expected  it,"  the  mate  went  on,  after  examining 
her ;  "  the  shock  has  started  the  butts  of  three  planks  on  one 
side,  and  two  on  the  other.  We  will  get  the  sand  out  first 
and  turn  her  over,  bottom  upwards." 

This  was  done. 

"  I  think  we  might  make  a  shift  to  cobble  it  up,"  the  mate 
said.  "  Some  of  the  wood  here  is  as  hard  as  iron,  and  we 
might  cut  some  pegs  and  fasten  the  planks  into  their  place 
again.  I  don't  suppose  we  shall  be  able  to  make  them 
water-tight,  but  we  might  caulk  them  up  with  pitch  or  gum 


70  WITH  COCHRANE  THE  DAUNTLESS 

from  some  of  the  trees.  But  that  is  not  the  first  thing  to 
think  of;  it  is  no  use  having  a  boat  if  we  have  not  food  or 
water  to  put  into  her.  These  biscuits  would  last  us  two  or 
three  days,  and  the  water,  if  we  are  careful,  as  long  again, 
but  that  is  not  enough  to  start  with  on  a  long  cruise.  The 
place  we  have  to  make  for  is  Timor.  Do  you  think  that  you 
could  find  your  way  there,  Steve,  and  how  far  is  it?  " 

"  I  was  looking  at  the  chart  the  last  day  I  was  on  board, 
sir,  and  I  noticed  that  Timor  lay  to  the  south  of  where  we 
were  then,  and  I  should  say  it  was  something  like  six  or  seven 
hundred  miles  away." 

"  Well,  it  is  of  no  use  starting  on  such  an  expedition  as 
that  with  such  a  stock  of  provisions  as  ours,  so  I  propose  that, 
in  the  first  place,  we  see  what  is  to  be  found  in  the  forest.  It 
will  be  hard  if  we  do  not  find  a  supply  of  fruit.  If  we  can 
collect  a  store  enough  we  might  venture  upon  making  a  start. 
You  see,  we  must  keep  well  off  the  land,  for  if  we  were  made 
out  from  any  of  the  coast  villages,  we  should  have  one  of  their 
craft  after  us  in  no  time ;  but,  in  any  case,  I  should  say  we 
had  better  stay  here  for  a  week.  If  the  Tiger  got  safely 
through  that  gale,  you  may  be  sure  the  captain  will  be 
cruising  about  looking  for  us.  He  has  sufficient  faith  in  his 
boats  to  feel  pretty  positive  that  if  we  have  not  been  cast 
ashore  we  are  still  afloat. ' ' 


A   RESCUE  71 

CHAPTER   IV 

A   RESCUE 

were  soon  in  the  forest.  It  required  care  and 
1  caution  to  make  their  way  through  the  tangled  growth 
of  climbing  canes  and  vines.  Some  of  these  were  armed  with 
terrible  thorns,  and  as  they  had  no  hatchets  to  chop  their  way 
through  them  they  were  often  obliged  to  make  detours  to 
escape  these  obstacles.  Orchids  of  brilliant  colours  and  fan- 
tastic shapes  grew  thickly  on  the  trees,  ants  in  countless 
numbers  swarmed  up  and  down  the  trunks,  and  many  an 
angry  exclamation  was  wrung  from  the  seamen  as  a  bite  as 
sharp  as  the  sting  of  a  wasp  told  that  some  of  these  insects  had 
crawled  up  the  legs  of  their  trousers  or  made  their  way  down 
their  neck. 

"  Unless  we  are  going  to  live  on  ants,"  the  mate  said  rue- 
fully as  he  gave  a  savage  slap  at  his  leg,  ' '  it  seems  to  me  we 
are  likely  to  starve,  for  I  have  seen  nothing  whatever  to  eat 
since  we  entered  the  wood.  Even  if  some  of  the  trees  did 
bear  fruit  I  don't  see  how  we  are  going  to  get  at  it,  for  one 
would  be  eaten  alive  by  these  little  brutes  before  we  reached 
the  top. ' ' 

"  I  vote  we  turn  back,  Mr.  Towel,"  one  of  the  men  said. 
"  I  would  rather  put  to  sea  and  take  my  chance  than  keep  on 
being  stung  by  these  ants,  when  there  doesn't  seem  the  least 
hope  of  our  finding  anything." 

"  There  doesn't  seem  much  chance  here,  Nixon.  I  think 
we  had  best  get  out  of  the  wood  and  follow  the  edge  along. 
We  may  come  to  some  place  where  it  is  more  open,  and  may 
even  strike  on  a  stream.  If  we  could  do  that  we  might  patch 
up  the  boat  and  pull  up  stream  a  bit.  Anyhow,  I  don't 


72  WITH    COCHRANE    THE    DAUNTLESS 

think  it  is  any  use  pushing  on  here.  My  jacket  is  torn  in  a 
dozen  places  already  by  the  thorns." 

"One  of  them  has  nearly  taken  my  eye  out,"  another 
grumbled ;  and  indeed  all  were  bleeding  from  the  gashes  they 
had  received  from  the  thorns.  They  made  their  way  back 
carefully,  and  there  was  a  general  exclamation  of  satisfaction 
when  the  light  could  be  seen  ahead  through  the  trees.  As 
soon  as  they  were  out  on  the  sands  shirts  were  hastily  pulled 
off  and  a  hunt  for  ants  carried  out. 

"It  is  lucky  the  bites  don't  swell  up,"  Joyce  said,  "  or  I 
should  be  a  mass  of  bumps.  It  is  as  bad  as  if  one  had  been 
attacked  by  a  swarm  of  bees.  Yet  there  is  only  a  little  red 
spot  to  show  for  each  bite. ' ' 

As  soon  as  they  had  freed  themselves  from  the  ants  they 
started  along  the  edge  of  the  forest.  After  walking  for  two 
miles  they  gave  a  shout  of  joy,  for  a  river  some  fifty  yards 
wide  issued  from  the  forest.  The  sand-hills  had  hidden  it 
from  sight  until  they  were  close  upon  it. 

"Thank  God,  we  sha'n't  die  of  thirst,"  the  mate  said. 
"  It  will  be  a  hard  job  to  get  our  boat  here,  but  it  has  got  to 
be  done.  Even  if  we  could  launch  it  through  the  surf  there 
would  be  no  getting  in  through  the  rollers  on  the  bar,  at  least 
I  should  not  like  to  try  it.  So  we  have  got  to  drag  her  here 
somehow.  It  will  be  a  tough  job,  but  as  there  seems  no 
chance  of  getting  food  in  any  other  way  we  must  undertake  it. 
Hurrah!"  he  exclaimed  suddenly,  "there  are  some  cocoa- 
nut  trees  on  the  other  side  of  the  river.  That  settles  it.  Let 
us  be  off  back  again  at  once. ' ' 

They  returned  in  much  better  spirits  than  they  had  before 
felt.  On  the  way  they  went  a  short  distance  into  the  forest, 
and  cut  off  a  number  of  thorns  some  two  inches  long  and 
seemingly  as  hard  as  iron.  They  breakfasted  on  a  biscuit, 
with  a  full  allowance  of  water,  and  then  set  to  work  at  the 


A   RESCUE  73 

boat.  The  thorns  answered  their  purpose  as  nails  admirably, 
and  the  planks  soon  were  securely  fastened  into  their  places 
against  the  stem ;  but  without  nails  to  clench  the  planks  to- 
gether, it  was  evident  to  them  all  that  the  boat  would  not 
float  five  minutes.  They  stood  looking  at  it  discontentedly. 

"  What  is  to  be  done  with  it?  "  said  Mr.  Towel.  "  Can 
anyone  make  a  suggestion  ?  ' ' 

"  I  should  think,  sir,"  Stephen  said,  "  that  if  we  could 
get  some  strong  fibre,  or  some  of  those  thin  climbers  that 
barred  our  way — they  were  not  thicker  than  string,  but  there 
was  no  breaking  them,  and  I  should  think  that  they  would  do 
— that  with  them  we  could  sew  the  planks  together  and  caulk 
them  afterwards  with  the  threads  from  a  bit  of  the  leg  of  one 
of  our  drill  trousers." 

"  A  capital  idea,  Stephen.  At  any  rate,  it  would  be  worth 
trying." 

"  I  will  go  and  fetch  some  of  those  climbers,  sir,  and  some 
long  thorns  to  make  the  holes  with." 

"  We  may  as  well  all  go,  Stephen  ;  we  have  nothing  to  do 
here,  and  at  any  rate  it  is  cooler  in  the  forest  than  it  is  on  the 
sands.  We  shall  want  a  good  stock  of  thorns,  for  we  are  sure 
to  break  lots  of  them  in  making  the  holes." 

"  I  have  a  thing  in  my  knife  that  will  do  for  that,  sir," 
Joyce  said  ;  and  he  produced  from  his  pocket  a  knife  with 
many  blades,  one  of  them  being  a  long  pricker.  "It  was 
given  to  me  the  day  before  we  sailed,  and  I  have  always 
wondered  what  use  that  thing  could  ever  be.  Here  is  a  use 
for  it  at  last." 

"  Capital,  Joyce  !  That  is  just  the  thing.  There  is  flint 
and  steel,  and  a  tinder-box  in  the  locker,  and  our  best  plan 
will  be  to  make  a  fire  and  heat  that  pricker  of  yours  red-hot. 
It  would  make  the  work  a  great  deal  easier,  and  there  will  be 
less  risk  of  breaking  it  or  of  splitting  the  wood.  So  now  we 


74  WITH    COCHRANE    THE    DAUNTLESS 

will  collect  dry  wood  and  creepers  and  leave  the  thorns 
alone. ' ' 

This  was  done ;  but  when  they  returned  to  the  edge  of  the 
forest  all  agreed  that  they  should  lie  down  there  in  the  shade 
until  the  sun  had  lost  its  power,  for  their  position  being  al- 
most on  the  equator  the  heat  out  on  the  sand  was  unbearable. 

"It  will  be  as  well  for  one  to  keep  a  watch,  lads,"  the 
mate  said.  "We  have  seen  no  signs  of  natives,  but  there 
may  be  some  about.  The  sun  is  nearly  overhead,  so  it  will 
be  another  four  or  five  hours  before  we  can  set  to  work.  I 
will  take  the  first  watch.  In  an  hour  I  will  wake  Mr.  Joyce ; 
Mr.  Embleton  will  follow  him ;  then  you,  Nixon ;  that  will 
take  us  on  till  it's  time  to  move." 

These  arrangements  were  carried  out,  and  as  the  sun  sank 
towards  the  horizon  the  party  went  down  to  the  beach. 
Some  rotten  wood  was  crumbled  up  and  a  fire  quickly  made, 
then  the  work  of  boring  the  holes  began,  and  was  kept  up  all 
night.  As  it  was  necessary  to  put  them  very  closely  together, 
and  the  piercer  had  to  be  heated  two  or  three  times  for  each 
hole,  two  worked  by  turns  while  the  rest  slept,  and  by  sunrise 
the  holes  were  all  finished.  Then  the  work  of  sewing  the 
planks  together  began,  the  boat  being  turned  on  its  side  to 
allow  the  string,  as  they  called  it,  to  be  passed  backwards  and 
forwards.  In  two  hours  their  work  was  completed.  Stephen 
cut  off  four  or  five  inches  of  duck  from  the  bottom  of  each  leg 
of  his  trousers,  and  unravelling  the  thread  he  and  the  mate 
pressed  it  into  the  seams  as  fast  as  the  sewing  was  completed. 

"  I  think  that  that  will  do,"  the  mate  said,  looking  with  a 
satisfied  air  at  the  work.  "  Now,  what  it  wants  is  a  little 
tallow  to  rub  in  ;  but  there  is  no  candle  handy." 

"  When  I  was  on  watch,  sir,  I  saw  lots  of  bees  flying  in 
and  out  of  the  trees.  If  we  could  light  on  a  hive  the  wax 
would  do  first-rate." 


A   RESCUE  75 

"So  it  would,  Steve.  However,  until  we  can  find  one  I 
fancy  we  shall  get  on  well  enough.  Five  minutes'  bailing 
occasionally  will  keep  her  dry  enough,  I  am  sure,  at  any  rate 
for  river  work.  Now  we  have  got  the  big  job  before  us ;  let 
us  have  a  try  how  we  can  move  her." 

The  nine  men  put  their  strength  to  the  boat,  but  they 
found  that  the  deep  keel  buried  itself  in  the  sand,  and  that 
they  could  not  drag  her  along.  Then  they  tried  carrying 
her,  the  mate,  the  two  boys,  and  two  men  on  one  side,  and 
the  other  four  men  on  the  other.  She  was  a  heavy  weight, 
but  they  could  just  manage  it,  and  carried  her  for  some  twenty 
yards  before  they  put  her  down. 

"  This  will  never  do,"  the  mate  said.  "  We  can't  use 
our  strength  to  advantage,  else  the  weight  would  not  be  too 
great  for  us.  Let  us  go  up  to  the  wood,  lads,  and  chop 
four  poles,  turn  her  over,  and  lay  her  down  on  them.  In 
that  way  I  don't  think  we  shall  have  much  difficulty  about  it." 

It  took  them  longer  than  they  expected,  for  the  wood  was 
so  tough  that  their  cutlasses  produced  but  little  impression 
upon  it.  After  an  hour's  hard  work,  however,  they  cut 
four  poles,  each  about  twelve  feet  long.  With  these  they  re- 
turned to  the  boat,  laid  the  poles  down  on  the  sand  at  equal 
distances  apart,  and  turned  the  boat  over  upon  them ;  then 
a  man  took  each  end  of  a  pole,  the  two  boys  taking  one 
end  together,  and  at  a  word  lifted  the  boat  with  comparative 
ease.  It  was  very  hard  work  under  the  blazing  sun,  and  they 
had  to  stop  every  hundred  yards  or  so  to  rest  their  arms. 
Still  they  were  successful,  and  after  three  hours'  toil  they 
reached  the  river.  The  oars  had  been  lost  when  they  landed, 
and  they  determined  to  take  the  bottom  boards  out  and  cut 
them  into  paddles.  The  first  thing,  however,  was  to  bathe. 

"  Don't  go  far  out,"  the  mate  said,  "  there  may  be  sharks 
or  alligators  in  the  river  for  aught  we  know. ' ' 


76  WITH    COCHRANE    THE    DAUNTLESS 

Greatly  refreshed  by  their  dip,  they  took  the  boards  out  of 
the  boat,  carried  them  up  into  the  shade  of  the  trees,  and 
with  their  jack-knives  fashioned  them  into  rude  paddles,  with 
thin  creepers  strips  of  wood  tying  down  the  handles  to  add  to 
their  strength.  This  took  them  all  the  afternoon.  When  the 
sun  had  lost  its  power  they  put  the  boat  into  the  water,  and 
made  an  experimental  trip  in  her,  and  were  glad  to  see  that 
the  seams  were  almost  water-tight,  and  that  it  would  need 
but  an  occasional  use  of  the  bailer  to  keep  her  clear.  They 
at  once  paddled  across  the  river  to  the  opposite  side,  and 
then  pulling  the  boat  up  made  a  rush  for  the  cocoa-nut  trees 
that  they  had  seen  the  day  before. 

"  How  are  we  to  get  up?"  Joyce  inquired,  looking  with 
dismay  at  the  smooth  trunks. 

"  I  learnt  that  on  the  west  coast  of  Africa,"  the  mate  re- 
plied. "  I  was  there  two  years  and  got  to  know,  I  think,  all 
there  was  to  know  with  regard  to  steering  a  boat  in  a  surf; 
climbing  a  cocoa-nut  tree  is  easy  work  in  comparison.  Fetch 
the  head-rope  of  the  boat. ' ' 

This  was  done,  and  he  asked  who  volunteered  for  the  first 
climb. 

"  I  will  try  it,  Mr.  Towel,"  Joyce  said,  "  if  you  will  show 
me  how." 

"  Stand  by  the  side  of  the  tree,  Joyce.  Now  I  will  put 
this  rope  round  you  and  round  the  tree,  leaving  a  certain 
amount  of  slack  in  the  loop.  Now  you  get  a  grip  of  the  tree 
with  your  knees.  Then  with  your  hands  you  shift  the  loop 
up  as  high  as  you  can,  and  lean  against  it.  Get  a  sort  of 
purchase,  and  so  shift  your  knees  a  bit  higher.  No  doubt 
you  will  feel  it  awkward  at  first,  but  after  a  little  practice  you 
will  find  no  difficulty  whatever  in  going  up  at  a  fair  rate  of 
speed." 

In  spite  of  his  experience  aloft  Joyce  found  it  hard  work  to 


A   RESCUE  77 

climb  the  tree.  As  soon  as  he  was  at  the  top  he  broke  off 
the  nuts  and  dropped  them ;  when  he  had  picked  two  nuts 
for  each  of  the  party  he  descended. 

"  They  are  not  a  bit  like  cocoa-nuts,"  Stephen  remarked 
as  the  first  came  to  the  ground.  "  They  look  more  like 
queer-shaped  gourds." 

"They  do,  lad,"  the  mate  agreed.  "But  you  see  they 
are  not  ripe  yet,  while  those  we  get  in  England  are  over- 
ripe ;  instead  of  the  inside  nut  being  enveloped  in  fibre  the 
whole  thing  is  soft,  and,  you  see  " — here  he  suited  the  action 
to  the  word — "  you  can  cut  a  hole  down  right  through,  and 
then  all  that  you  have  got  to  do  is  to  drink  the  milk. ' ' 

The  men  followed  the  officer's  example,  and  were  soon 
taking  long  draughts  of  the  sweet,  cool  liquor,  which  differs 
widely  indeed  from  that  of  the  ripe  cocoa-nut. 

"  How  is  it  that  the  milk  is  so  cool,  sir?  "  Steve  asked. 

"  That  is  more  than  I  can  tell  you,  for  no  matter  how  hot 
the  weather,  the  milk  of  fresh  cocoa-nuts  is  always  cool ;  why 
it  should  be  so  I  have  no  idea. ' ' 

After  they  had  drunk  the  milk  they  broke  open  the  nuts 
and  scraped  the  soft  cream-like  paste  which  lined  the  inside, 
and  which,  when  the  nut  ripened,  would  have  become  hard  and 
solid. 

"  You  will  find  them  of  different  degrees  of  ripeness,"  the 
mate  said.  "  Some  of  them  will  furnish  us  with  drink,  some 
with  food,  and  as  there  are  trees  along  here  as  far  as  we  can 
see,  we  need  not  worry  ourselves  as  to  victuals.  Well,  we 
have  done  our  work  for  the  day  and  will  make  this  our  camp, 
and  talk  over  what  is  the  best  thing  to  do  next. ' ' 

After  much  deliberation  it  was  decided  that  they  should 
paddle  up  the  river  the  next  day,  leaving  two  of  their  number 
at  the  edge  of  the  forest  to  keep  a  look-out  for  the  ship. 

"It  is  as  well  to  see  what  there  is  on  the  river,"  the  mate 


78  WITH    COCHRANE   THE   DAUNTLESS 

said.  "  Of  course  if  we  come  to  a  village  we  shall  let  our- 
selves drop  down  quietly  again.  And  we  must  keep  a  sharp 
look-out  as  we  go ;  it  would  never  do  to  let  them  get  a  sight 
of  us,  for  none  of  the  natives  of  these  islands  are  to  be  trusted, 
and  I  am  sure  that  none  of  us  wish  to  have  our  heads  used  as 
a  decoration  in  their  huts.  What  I  hope  to  come  upon  is  the 
site  of  an  abandoned  village.  These  people  often  shift  their 
quarters.  They  have  no  belongings  to  speak  of  to  move,  and 
a  couple  of  days'  labour  is  enough  for  them  to  put  up  fresh 
huts.  But  in  the  places  they  have  occupied  we  are  sure  to 
find  bananas ;  and  if  we  can  but  get  a  boat-load  of  them  we 
shall  be  victualled  for  a  voyage,  and  after  waiting,  long 
enough  to  give  the  ship  a  chance  of  finding  us,  the  sooner 
we  are  off  the  better.  Many  of  these  islands  are  inhabited  by 
tribes  that  spare  no  one  who  falls  into  their  hands,  and  it 
would  be  better  to  take  our  chance  on  the  sea  than  to  re- 
main here.  There  are  a  good  many  little  Dutch  settlements 
scattered  about.  What  we  have  got  to  do  is  to  light  upon 
one  of  these.  There  is  no  mistaking  them  for  native  vil- 
lages, and  once  we  can  get  a  point  of  departure  we  shall 
have  no  difficulty  in  laying  our  course  either  for  Timor  or 
Java.  Stephen,  I  shall  leave  you  as  the  junior  officer  here  to- 
morrow. Wilcox  will  stay  with  you.  If  you  see  the  ship 
you  will  light  a  big  fire  and  throw  green  leaves  on  it  to  make 
as  big  a  smoke  as  possible.  They  would  know  at  once  that 
it  was  a  signal,  for  the  natives  would  do  nothing  to  attract 
notice,  especially  if  their  intentions  were  hostile." 

"All  right,  sir  !  We  will  keep  a  sharp  look-out.  You 
won't  be  away  many  hours,  I  suppose?  " 

"  Certainly  not.  We  don't  want  to  do  any  exploring. 
All  we  want  to  do  is  to  look  for  food,  and  the  most  likely 
food  for  us  to  find  is  a  troop  of  monkeys  among  the  trees 
overhanging  the  river.  As  a  t/iJe,  I.  should  not  like  to  shoot 


A   RESCUE  79 

the  beasts.  They  are  too  much  like  human  beings.  But  if 
we  can  get  a  supply  of  meat  it  will  be  welcome,  no  matter 
what  it  may  be.  Of  course  we  should  not  shoot  many,  for  a 
couple  of  days  would  be  the  outside  that  meat  would  keep 
good  here." 

"  But  might  not  firing  a  gun  bring  the  natives  down  on 
you,  sir?"  Stephen  said. 

"  Oh,  we  have  seen  no  signs  of  natives  !  "  the  mate  said 
impatiently,  "  and  there  mayn't  be  any  within  miles  and 
miles  of  us,  probably  not  nearer  than  those  hills;  for  I 
believe  it  is  there  that  they  principally  do  what  cultivation 
there  is — in  the  first  place,  because  it  is  cooler,  and  in  the 
next  place  because  there  are,  we  know,  tremendous  swamps 
in  the  low  land  of  Sumatra,  though  whether  this  is  Sumatra 
or  not  I  cannot  say." 

The  next  morning  the  boat  started  as  soon  as  a  supply  of 
cocoa-nuts,  sufficient  for  the  day,  had  been  thrown  down, 
two  or  three  of  the  sailors  adopting  the  means  the  mate  had 
taught  Joyce,  and  going  up  the  trees  very  much  more  quickly 
than  he  had  done. 

"  What  do  you  think  of  this  'ere  business,  Master  Stephen  ?  " 
Wilcox  said  as  they  watched  the  boat  making  its  way  slowly 
against  the  current. 

"  I  don't  know,  Wilcox,  what  to  think  of  it." 

"I  calls  it  a  risky  affair,"  the  sailor  said  after  a  pause. 
"  Mr.  Towel  is  a  good  officer,  I  don't  say  as  he  isn't,  but  I 
would  rather  see  an  older  head  on  his  shoulders  just  at  present. 
It  is  all  very  well  for  him  to  say  as  there  may  be  no  natives 
within  twenty  miles;  but  how  is  he  to  know  that?  There 
may  be  a  village  just  round  the  turn  of  the  river.  All  these 
chaps  are  pirates  when  they  get  a  chance,  every  mother's  son 
of  them,  and  there  may  be  half  a  dozen  war-canoes  lying  a 
mile  up  this  river.  It  would  be  natural  that  they  should  be 


80  WITH    COCHRANE    THE    DAUNTLESS 

somewhere  near  its  mouth,  ready  to  start  out  if  a  sail  is 
sighted,  or  news  is  brought  to  them  that  there  is  a  ship 
anchored  off  a  coast  village  within  a  few  hours'  row.  As  to 
firing  a  gun,  in  my  opinion  it  is  just  madness.  As  he  says 
himself,  meat  won't  keep  two  days,  and  it  is  just  flying  in 
the  face  of  Providence  to  risk  attracting  the  attention  of  the 
natives,  for  the  sake  of  a  day's  rations  of  fresh  meat. 

"  It  was  all  very  well  to  bring  the  boat  up  here  so  as  to  lie 
out  of  sight  of  any  canoes  that  happened  to  be  passing  along 
the  shore ;  but  I  would  much  rather  have  left  her  where  she 
was,  though  I  allows  it  would  have  been  risky.  I  would 
have  just  chucked  the  sail  over  her  and  covered  that  with  an 
inch  or  so  of  sand,  so  that  it  would  not  have  been  noticed 
by  a  boat  a  short  way  out.  But  if  there  is  a  village  up  here, 
why,  a  boat  might  come  down  any  moment  to  do  some 
fishing,  and  there  we  should  be  caught  at  once ;  as  for  get- 
ting away  with  them  makeshift  paddles,  it  would  not  be 
worth  even  thinking  of.  I  hope  our  chaps  will  come  back 
without  having  seen  a  monkey  or  a  village,  or  as  much  as  a 
banana,  then  the  mate  won't  be  hankering  to  go  up  again  ; 
and  I  should  make  free  to  advise  him  to  get  the  boat  up 
amongst  the  trees  here  till  we  have  decided  that  the  ship 
won't  come,  and  agree  to  make  a  start." 

"  I  am  with  you  to  some  extent,  Wilcox,  and  I  do  think 
that  it  is  a  risky  thing  going  up  the  river.  If  we  were  to  fill 
up  with  cocoa-nuts  they  would  last  us  for  a  week  anyhow, 
and  then  when  we  saw  another  grove  of  them  we  could  land 
and  load  up  again." 

"  You  can't  take  an  observation,  I  suppose,  Mr.  Stephen, 
and  find  out  in  a  rough  way  whereabouts  we  are?  " 

Steve  shook  his  head.  "  No,  Wilcox.  If  I  had  had  my 
quadrant  I  might  have  got  near  enough  to  have  made  a  rough 
guess,  for  I  have  got  that  watch  I  bought  in  my  pocket,  and  I 


A   RESCUE  81 

have  timed  it  every  day  with  the  chronometers,  and  find  that 
it  does  not  gain  more  than  half  a  minute  a  day,  so  that  at  the 
present  moment  it  is  not  much  more  than  a  minute  out  by 
them,  and  if  I  had  had  the  quadrant  I  could  have  made  a 
pretty  close  calculation.  We  were  about  a  degree  and  a  half 
south  at  noon  before  that  cyclone  struck  us,  but  I  don't  see 
that  that  would  help  us  now." 

"  It  is  a  pity,  sir,"  the  sailor  said,  "  for  it  would  help  us 
wonderful  if  we  could  find  out  our  position  within  fifty  miles 
or  so." 

"  I  wish  we  could,  Wilcox  ;  "  and  Stephen  sat  for  some 
time  thinking.  At  last  he  said,  "  I  might,  anyhow,  find  out 
in  a  rough  sort  of  way  whether  we  have  been  blown  north  or 
south.  We  will  see  if  we  can  find  a  perfectly  straight  stick, 
ten  or  twelve  feet  long.  If  I  fix  that  upright  in  sand  the 
shadow  would  help  us.  It  was  the  25th  of  March  yesterday, 
and  the  sun  at  noon  would  therefore  be  exactly  overhead  of 
the  line  at  twelve  o'clock.  Therefore,  if  we  have  been 
blown  north,  we  should  get  a  very  short  shadow  to  the  south 
at  twelve  o'clock;  whereas  if  we  have  been  blown  south, 
there  would  be  a  shadow  north.  It  might  not  be  more  than 
an  inch  long ;  but  even  that  would  tell  us  something. ' ' 

They  selected  a  long  straight  stick,  drove  it  deeply  into 
the  sand,  walked  round  it  several  times  so  as  to  assure  them- 
selves that  it  was  perfectly  upright,  and  then  returned  again 
to  the  shelter  of  the  trees.  An  hour  later  the  sound  of  a  gun 
came  to  their  ears. 

"  He  has  found  some  of  them  monkeys,"  Wilcox  growled. 

Three  more  shots  were  heard.  "  How  far  are  they  off,  do 
you  think  ?  "  Stephen  asked. 

"  I  dunno,  sir.  If  it  was  on  the  open  sea  and  calm  like 
this,  I  should  say  they  might  be  two  or  three  miles,  bvft  in 
this  'ere  forest  there  ain't  no  saying  at  all.  I  don't  reckon 


82  WITH    COCHRANE    THE    DAUNTLESS 

they  would  be  above  two  miles  anyhow,  that  is  if  the  stream 
is  as  strong  up  there  as  it  is  here.  They  were  making  very 
slow  way  against  it  when  they  started.  I  reckon  they  have 
been  gone  about  an  hour,  and  they  would  not  have  got  more 
than  two  miles  away  against  this  stream.  Well,  I  hope  that 
they  will  be  content  now  and  turn  back  again." 

Half  an  hour  passed,  then  they  heard  a  gun  again ;  it  was 
quickly  followed  by  another  and  another. 

"  More  monkeys,"  Wilcox  exclaimed  in  a  tone  of  disgust. 

"  I  hope  it  is  monkeys,"  Stephen  said.  "Listen.  There 
are  four  more  shots  close  together. ' ' 

The  sailor  leapt  to  his  feet.  "  I  believe  you  are  right,  sir, 
that  cussed  firing  has  brought  the  natives  down  upon  them. 
They  would  not  want  to  keep  on  firing  at  the  monkeys.  We 
shall  hear  in  a  minute  if  they  fire  again.  They  have  all 
emptied  their  pieces.  If  they  load  quick  and  fire  again  it 
will  be  a  bad  sign.  There  they  are  !  "  he  broke  off  as  two 
shots  were  heard.  "I  am  afraid  that  settles  it,  sir,  and 
settles  us  too,  for  if  they  are  attacked  there  ain't  a  ghost  of  a 
chance  of  their  getting  away,  and  there  won't  be  much  more 
chance  of  our  doing  so." 

Four  more  shots  were  heard,  and  then  all  was  quiet. 
"  Now,  sir,  we  will  be  getting  pretty  deep  in  among  these 
trees,  keeping  close  to  the  bank,  so  that  we  can  look  through 
the  bushes  without  being  seen.  If  the  boat  comes  along  all 
right,  there  ain't  no  harm  done;  if  it  don't  come  along  after 
a  bit,  we  shall  know  what  has  happened." 

Picking  up  his  gun,  Wilcox  was  about  to  turn  off  into  the 
wood  when  Stephen  said  : 

"  We  had  better  take  three  or  four  cocoa-nuts  each,  Wil- 
cox. There  is  no  saying  whether  we  shall  come  back  to  this 
place,  and  it  is  as  well  to  have  something  to  eat." 

Each    tied    some   nuts    together,    threw   them   over   their 


A    RESCUE  83 

shoulders,  and  started  along  the  river  bank.  The  stream 
was  bordered  by  a  thick  undergrowth,  which  afforded  an 
effectual  screen  for  anyone  behind  it.  After  going  for  about 
a  quarter  of  a  mile  they  stopped  to  listen.  There  was  a  faint 
throbbing  sound  in  the  air. 

"  Paddles  !  "  Steve  exclaimed. 

"  Ay,  and  native  paddles,  sir.  Our  men  don't  paddle  like 
that,  and  I  fancy,"  he  went  on  after  listening  again,  "  there 
is  more  than  one  canoe.  That  settles  it,  sir.  There  isn't  a 
chance  of  our  ever  seeing  our  mates  again." 

"  Oh,  don't  say  that,  Wilcox  !  Even  if  some  have  been 
killed,  the  others  may  have  been  taken  prisoners.  I  can't 
believe  they  have  all  been  murdered." 

"  Well,  I  hope  not,  sir,  but  it  looks  very  black.  If  they 
had  pounced  upon  them  sudden,  and  there  had  been  no  fight- 
ing, they  might  have  kept  them  prisoners  a  day  or  two  till 
they  made  a  grand  feast  and  killed  them  ;  but  that  firing  we 
heard  settles  it  to  my  mind.  I  should  say  there  ain't  no 
manner  of  doubt  that  our  fellows  will  have  killed  some  of  the 
niggers,  and  I  expect  that  the  two  canoes  closed  in  on  them, 
and  then  it  would  be  all  over  in  a  minute." 

When  the  canoes  were  within  a  quarter  of  a  mile  the  rowers 
broke  into  a  sort  of  chant,  with  occasional  wild  shouts  and 
yells. 

"  There  they  come,"  Wilcox  said  as  two  long  canoes,  pad- 
dling abreast,  rounded  a  turn  in  the  river  a  short  distance 
away.  "There  must  be  something  like  fifty  men  in  each 
canoe. ' ' 

In  a  short  time  the  canoes  came  along  at  a  high  rate  of 
speed.  The  sailor  gave  a  sudden  exclamation  of  fury. 

"  What  K  it?  "  Steve  asked. 

"  Don't  you  see,  sir,  in  the  stern  of  each  of  the  canoes, 
piled  up  by  the  steering  oar,  there  are  some  heads. ' ' 


84  WITH    COCHRANE    THE    DAUNTLESS 

"  I  can't  look  at  them,"  Stephen  said,  drawing  back  from 
his  peep-hole  through  the  leaves. 

"They  are  whites,"  the  sailor  muttered.  "There  ain't 
no  doubt  about  it.  I  would  give  all  my  pay  for  the  voyage 
to  have  the  Tiger's  crew  here,  that  we  might  give  them  mur- 
dering villains  a  volley. " 

But  Stephen  did  not  hear  him  ;  he  had  thrown  himself 
down,  and  the  tears  were  running  down  his  cheeks.  The  loss 
of  the  second  mate,  who  had  always  been  cheery  and  kind, 
and  of  his  fellow  apprentice,  Joyce,  completely  unnerved  him. 
Up  to  now  he  had  hoped,  but  what  before  had  been  doubt  as 
to  their  fate  had  now  been  converted  into  certainty. 

"  Don't  give  way,  Master  Steve,"  the  sailor  said,  stooping 
over  him  and  laying  his  hand  on  his  shoulder.  "  It  is  a  bad 
job,  there  ain't  no  denying  it.  What  happened  to  them  half 
an  hour  ago  may  happen  to  us  before  long ;  we  have  got  to  be 
up  and  doing,  sir." 

"You  are  right,  Wilcox,"  Steve  said,  as  he  rose  to  his 
feet.  "  In  the  first  place,  could  you  count  the  heads  ?  " 

"  No ;  there  was  a  pile  of  them  in  each  boat ;  there  may 
have  been  three,  there  may  have  been  four  in  each." 

"  Well,  one  thing  is  certain,  Wilcox  ;  we  must  find  out  if 
any  of  them  are  still  alive,  and  if  so  we  must  try  and  get  them 
out  of  the  Malays'  hands." 

"  I  am  ready  to  try,  sir.  When  a  chap  sees  such  a  thing  as 
that  he  don't  seem  to  care  much  for  his  life;  and  at  least  if 
we  are  caught  we  can  polish  off  a  few  of  the  villains  before  we 
go  under,  so  I  am  game  to  do  anything  you  may  order." 

"  It  is  not  for  me  to  order,  Wilcox;  I  am  only  a  young 
apprentice,  and  you  are  an  experienced  sailor ;  and  now 
that  we  are  alone  and  in  danger  together,  it  is  for  you  to 
lead." 

"  Well,  if  that  is  the  way  you  look  at  it,  sir,  I  am  willing 


A   RESCUE  85 

to  do  all  I  can  ;  and  if  we  find  there  is  any  of  our  mates  alive 
we  will  get  them  out  if  it  is  possible,  never  fear." 

"  Do  you  think  those  canoes  are  going  to  put  to  sea?" 
Steve  asked. 

"  Not  they  ;  they  have  just  gone  down  to  the  mouth  of  the 
river  to  see  whether  that  boat  came  from  a  ship  lying  off  the 
shore  or  whether  it  was  alone.  There,  do  you  hear  those  yells  ? 
They  have  got  out  of  the  canoes,  and  found  the  place  where 
we  camped  last  night.  We  walked  about  there  a  good  bit, 
and  it  ain't  likely  they  will  be  able  to  find  out  whether  there 
was  seven  or  nine  of  us.  Besides,  I  don't  think  they  will  look 
much,  for  they  would  take  it  for  certain  we  should  all  go  up 
the  river  together  ;  and  so  we  should  have  done  if  it  had  not 
been  that  you  and  I  were  left  behind  to  look  out  for  a  sail." 

In  half  an  hour  the  two  canoes  came  back  again.  They 
both  kept  well  over  to  the  opposite  side  of  the  river  to  avoid 
the  full  force  of  the  current,  and  the  sailor  and  Stephen  at- 
tempted to  count  the  heads  in  their  sterns.  They  could  not 
make  out  the  number,  but  were  inclined  to  agree  that  the 
two  dark  masses  were  about  the  same  size. 

"  I  think  there  can  only  be  three  in  each  boat,"  Stephen 
said.  "  In  that  case  one  man  may  have  been  made  prisoner ; 
at  any  rate,  Wilcox,  we  will  go  on  and  see." 

As  soon  as  the  canoes  had  gone  round  the  bend  of  the 
river,  they  proceeded  on  their  way.  The  ground  presently 
became  exceedingly  swampy,  and  they  could  see  by  the  pieces 
of  dead  wood  and  litter  caught  among  the  bushes,  that  in 
times  of  flood  the  river  must  overflow  its  banks  and  extend 
a  long  distance  into  the  forest.  From  time  to  time  they  had 
to  wade  waist-deep  across  channels  by  which  the  water  from 
the  marsh  was  draining  slowly  into  the  river.  Before  crossing 
these,  at  Wilcox's  suggestion  they  each  cut  down  a  bush  and 
beat  the  water  with  it. 


86  WITH    COCHRANE   THE   DAUNTLESS 

"  I  expect  there  are  no  end  of  alligators  in  this  swamp," 
the  sailor  said;  "and  I  know  that  the  natives,  before  they 
cross  streams  where  the  brutes  are  likely  to  be  hiding,  beat 
the  water  with  sticks  or  bushes  to  frighten  them  away." 

•It  was  hard  work  walking,  for  they  often  sunk  knee-deep  in 
the  wet  soil,  but  after  toiling  for  nearly  an  hour  they  heard  a 
confused  noise  ahead,  and  could  ere  long  make  out  the  beating 
of  drums  and  the  wild  shouts  of  Malays,  mingled  with  a  deep 
roaring  sound  made  by  horns.  They  now  went  on  more 
cautiously,  and  presently  could  make  out  through  the  trees  a 
large  native  village  standing  upon  rising  ground  by  the  side 
of  the  river.  Creeping  cautiously  to  the  edge  of  the  bush 
they  could  see  that  a  large  number  of  men,  women,  and  chil- 
dren were  assembled  in  an  open  space  between  the  houses  and 
the  water.  The  women  were  bringing  bundles  of  wood,  and  a 
column  of  smoke  rising  in  the  centre  of  the  crowd  showed 
that  the  preparation  for  a  feast  had  begun. 

"  If  we  had  but  one  of  our  ten-pounders  loaded  with  grape 
with  us,"  Wilcox  said,  "  I  would  pour  a  volley  into  those 
black  devils  if  it  cost  me  my  life  afterwards." 

"  What  do  you  think  they  are  going  to  do,  Wilcox?" 

"  I  reckon  there  ain't  much  doubt  about  it,"  the  sailor 
replied  ;  "  they  are  going  to  make  a  feast  of  our  mess-mates." 

Stephen  uttered  an  exclamation  of  horror  and  disgust. 
"  Do  you  mean  to  say  that  they  are  cannibals,  Wilcox  ?  " 

"  In  course  I  can't  say  for  certain,  Master  Steve.  Some  of 
these  tribes  are  cannibals  and  some  ain't,  and  I  reckon  by 
what  I  see  going  on  that  those  villains  are.  Are  you  a  good 
climber,  sir  ?  " 

"  Do  you  mean  climbing  a  tree  ?  I  have  never  had  much 
practice  at  that,  Wilcox,  but  I  dare  say  I  could  manage  it." 

"  Well,  sir,  you  are  lighter  and  more  active  than  I  am,  and 
I  was  thinking  that  if  you  could  get  up  to  the  top  of  this  tree 


A   RESCUE  87 

you  would  have  a  view  down  over  the  village.  The  leaves  are 
pretty  thick,  and  as  the  niggers  are  busy  there  is  not  much 
chance  of  their  looking  about  for  a  man  up  a  tree.  You  see 
the  village  ain't  above  a  hundred  and  fifty  yards  away,  and 
the  ground  ain't  more  than  twenty  feet  above  the  river.  I 
should  say  that  this  tree  was  seventy  or  eighty  feet  high,  so 
that  from  the  top  you  can  get  a  view  pretty  well  over  the 
place ;  if  there  is  one  of  our  chaps  there  he  may  be  lying  tied 
up  somewhere.  Of  course  he  might  be  in  a  hut,  but  it  is 
much  more  likely  that  they  would  have  just  chucked  him  down 
until  they  wanted  him.  I  think  if  you  got  on  my  shoulder 
you  would  be  able  to  get  hold  of  that  lowest  branch  where  it 
bends  down,  and  climb  along  it  to  the  trunk ;  after  that  the 
branches  come  pretty  thick  together." 

"  I  think  I  could  manage  that  easily  enough." 

"  Well,  then,  here  goes,"  the  sailor  said,  and  took  up  his 
post  beneath  where  the  bough  was  lowest.  "  If  you  can't 
reach  it  from  my  shoulder,  sir,  you  step  on  my  head.  I  can 
hold  you  easy  enough.  You  keep  the  trunk  as  far  as  possible 
between  you  and  the  village." 

"  The  leaves  are  thick  up  high,"  Steve  said,  looking  up  at 
the  tree;  "directly  it  gets  above  the  level  of  these  smaller 
trees  it  spreads  its  branches  out  well." 

"  Now,  jump  upon  my  back,  sir,  and  then  climb  upon  my 
shoulders.  You  had  best  take  hold  of  my  hands  to  steady 
yourself." 

It  was  necessary,  as  the  sailor  had  suggested,  for  Steve  to 
stand  upon  his  supporter's  head  before  he  could  get  hold  of  a 
branch  sufficiently  strong  to  bear  his  weight.  As  soon  as  he 
did  so  he  drew  himself  up,  and  was  soon  climbing  the  main 
trunk.  The  higher  he  got  the  more  convinced  was  he  that 
he  would  not  be  observed  by  the  natives,  for  the  trees  behind 
him  formed  a  background,  and  therefore  he  could  not  be 


88  WITH    COCHRANE   THE    DAUNTLESS 

seen  against  the  sky.  He  kept,  however,  as  the  sailor  had 
told  him,  on  the  other  side  of  the  trunk,  and  when  he  had 
gained  the  smaller  branches  at  the  top  of  the  tree  he  looked 
out  through  an  opening  in  the  foliage.  The  village  seemed 
to  lie  almost  at  his  feet,  and  he  could  see  every  object  on  the 
ground.  It  was  not  long  before  he  perceived  a  figure  lying 
full  length  in  front  of  one  of  the  huts,  close  to  the  spot  where 
the  people  were  gathered.  It  was  certainly  an  European, 
and  from  the  whiteness  of  the  trousers  he  felt  sure  that  it 
was  either  the  mate  or  Joyce.  He  counted  the  number  of 
huts,  and  found  that  the  one  beside  which  the  figure  was 
lying  was  the  eighth  in  the  line  facing  the  river.  There 
were  two  lines  of  huts  with  a  sort  of  street  between  them. 
Behind  the  second  row  the  rise  on  which  the  village  was 
situated  fell  rapidly  away  and  the  jungle  grew  almost  up  to 
the  back  of  the  huts.  Those  in  the  second  line  stood  some- 
what further  apart  than  those  in  the  first,  and  he  observed 
that  the  sixth  house  in  the  back  line  was  opposite  the  eighth 
in  the  front.  Having  gathered  this  information  he  descended 
the  tree. 

"  What  news,  sir?"  the  sailor  asked,  as  Stephen  dropped 
from  the  bough  to  his  side. 

'"  There  is  one  of  our  comrades  lying  by  the  huts,  Wilcox. 
I  can  tell  by  his  white  ducks  that  it  is  either  Mr.  Towel  or 
Joyce;  whether  he  is  alive  or  dead,  of  course  I  can't  say.  I 
did  not  see  him  move,  but  no  doubt  he  would  be  tied  hand 
and  foot.  I  saw  nothing  of  the  others,  and  there  would  be 
no  reason  why  he  should  be  treated  differently  from  them  if  he 
were  dead." 

"  You  may  be  sure  of  that.  Well,  that  is  better  than  I 
had  hoped.  If  we  can  save  one  it  will  be  something." 

"  I  have  been  examining  the  ground,"  Stephen  went  on, 
"  and  we  could  work  round  close  up  to  the  second  row  of 


A   RESCUE  89 

huts.  We  must  count  six  of  them,  then  go  along  by  the  side 
of  the  sixth  and  cross  the  street  to  the  hut  opposite.  The 
prisoner  is  lying  in  front  of  that,  I  mean  on  the  river  side  of 
it.  Of  course,  there  is  no  doing  anything  until  the  sun  has 
set,  except  that  we  might  work  round  to  that  hut.  It  will  be 
easier  to  get  through  this  horrid  swamp  before  it  gets  dark 
than  afterwards,  and  there  will  be  less  fear  of  our  stumbling 
and  breaking  a  branch.  What  time  do  you  think  it  is  now?  " 

"  I  don't  think  it  is  more  than  eight  bells  yet,"  Wilcox 
said.  "  It  is  a  lot  of  hours  to  wait,  and  I  would  give  a  good 
bit  to  be  out  of  the  swamp  before  it  gets  dark.  Howsomever, 
if  we  keep  along  by  the  river  coming  back  we  can't  lose  our 
way,  that  is  one  comfort.  Well,  let  us  work  round  at  once, 
and  then  we  shall  see  how  the  land  lies.  It  is  like  enough 
that  as  soon  as  they  have  got  a  big  fire  made  up,  and  the 
cooking  begun,  they  will  most  of  them  turn  in  for  a  sleep  till 
the  heat  of  the  day  is  over,  and  begin  their  feast  after  sun- 
down. They  generally  do  sleep  half  the  day,  and  then  keep 
it  up  half  the  night." 

Accordingly  they  started  through  the  wood,  and  in  a 
quarter  of  an  hour  found  themselves  at  the  foot  of  the  rising 
ground  on  which  the  village  stood.  They  had  counted  the 
huts,  and  now  crawled  up  through  the  thick  bushes  and  stood 
within  a  few  yards  of  the  sixth  hut.  The  swamp  had  been 
very  deep  on  the  way,  and  they  had  had  the  greatest  difficulty 
in  getting  through  it.  Stephen  had  once  sunk  below  his  waist 
in  the  mud,  and  would  have  been  unable  to  extricate  him- 
self, had  not  the  sailor  held  on  by  a  young  tree  with  one 
hand  while  he  stretched  out  the  other  to  him. 

"  I  am  all  right  now  as  far  as  colour  goes,  Wilcox.  Now, 
do  you  stay  here  and  I  will  crawl  along  by  the  side  of  the 
hut  and  have  a  look  up  and  down  the  street.  I  did  not  see  a 
soul  between  the  row  of  huts  when  I  was  in  the  tree. ' ' 


90  WITH  COCHRANE  THE  DAUNTLESS 

When  Stephen  peeped  out  by  the  side  of  the  hut  he  saw 
that  there  were  several  people  about,  apparently  returning 
from  the  spot  where  they  had  congregated.  He  rejoined  his 
companion,  and  they  waited  an  hour.  By  this  time  perfect 
silence  had  fallen  on  the  village.  The  heat  was  intense,  and 
even  in  the  forest  all  sound  had  ceased,  as  if  birds  and  insects 
were  alike  indulging  in  a  mid-day  sleep. 

"I  will  go  and  have  a  look  again  now,"  Stephen  said. 
"  If  I  find  no  one  about  I  will  cross  the  street  and  try  to  cut 
the  ropes,  and  bring  him  here  at  once.  If  there  is  a  guard 
over  him  I  will  come  back  again  to  you.  We  ought  to  be 
able  to  silence  the  guard  without  his  giving  the  alarm,  espe- 
cially as  he  is  likely  to  be  half-asleep." 

"  You  had  better  leave  your  pistols  here,  Master  Steve,  and 
take  your  cutlass.  A  pistol-shot  now  would  bring  the  whole 
village  down  on  us,  and  we  should  have  no  chance  of  getting 
through  the  swamp  with  a  hundred  of  those  fellows  after  us. 
You  had  better  draw  your  sword,  and  leave  the  scabbard  and 
belt  here.  In  the  first  place,  it  is  handier  to  have  the  sword 
ready ;  and  it  is  not  so  likely  to  knock  against  anything  when 
you  have  got  it  in  your  hand  as  it  would  be  trailing  behind 
you  as  you  crawl  along.  I  shall  be  on  the  look-out,  sir,  and 
shall  be  by  your  side  in  a  brace  of  shakes  if  you  hail." 

Stephen  parted  the  bushes,  and  then  stepped  lightly  to  the 
corner  of  the  hut.  Not  a  soul  was  to  be  seen  moving  about, 
and  he  dashed  across  to  the  house  opposite,  crawled  along  by 
its  side,  and  then  looked  round.  The  great  fire  had  burned 
low,  and  Stephen  shuddered  as  his  eye  fell  upon  the  mass  of 
embers  and  thought  of  what  was  lying  below  them.  There 
was  no  one  about — the  whole  of  the  natives  had  retired  to 
their  huts.  In  another  moment  he  was  beside  the  prisoner. 
It  was  Joyce.  Bands  of  cord  -  like  creepers  were  wrapped 
round  his  legs ;  his  wrists  were  tied  together,  and  from  them 


STEPHEN   CRAWLS   TO   THE   RESCUE   OF   HIS   CHUM,    JOYCE. 


A  RESCUE  91 

a  rope  went  to  a  peg  fo  ar  feet  beyond  him,  extending  his 
arms  at  full  length  beyond  his  head.  A  similar  fastening 
from  his  ankles  kept  his  legs  at  full  stretch  in  the  other  direc- 
tion. Fastened  thus,  the  Malays  evidently  considered  that 
there  was  no  necessity  for  a  guard  over  him. 

"Joyce,  old  fellow,"  Stephen  whispered  in  his  ear,  "are 
you  conscious  ? ' ' 

The  lad  opened  his  closed  eyes  with  a  start. 

"  Don't  speak,"  Stephen  went  on. 

"  Is  it  really  you,  Steve,  or  am  I  dreaming  ?  " 

"  You  are  awake  enough,  Tom.  I  am  here  with  Wilcox  and 
will  soon  get  these  things  off  you."  Drawing  his  jack-knife 
he  cut  the  bonds.  ' '  Do  you  think  that  you  can  walk,  Tom  ?  ' ' 

"  Yes,  the  things  were  not  very  tight,  only  being  pegged 
out  like  this  I  could  not  move  an  inch." 

Stephen  was  lying  down  by  his  side  while  he  cut  the  fasten- 
ings. He  now  looked  round  again. 

"  There  is  no  one  in  sight,  Tom,  but  you  had  better  wriggle 
yourself  along  until  you  get  to  the  corner  of  the  hut. ' ' 

As  soon  as  they  were  round  the  corner  they  stood  up.  As 
they  did  so,  the  sailor  put  his  head  out  through  the  bushes 
and  waved  them  a  silent  cheer.  Stephen  went  first,  and  as 
soon  as  he  saw  that  the  street  was  empty  he  beckoned  to  his 
companion,  and  they  ran  across  to  the  other  side;  a  moment 
later  they  joined  the  sailor.  The  latter  gave  a  grip  to  Joyce's 
hand,  and  then  held  out  to  him  a  cocoa-nut  he  had  just  cut 
open  in  readiness.  This  he  siezed  eagerly  and  took  a  long 
drink. 

"  I  was  choking  with  thirst,"  Joyce  gasped,  as  he  finished 
the  contents  of  the  nut. 

"Take  care  how  you  go  through  the  bushes,"  the  sailor 
whispered,  as  he  turned  and  led  the  way;  "everything  is  so 
quiet  that  a  rustle  might  be  heard." 


92  WITH   COCHRANE   THE   DAUNTLESS 

They  went  along  with  the  greatest  caution.  Their  bare 
feet  fell  noiselessly  on  the  spongy  soil,  but  sometimes  as  they 
sank  into  the  mud  the  suck  of  the  air  as  they  drew  them  out 
made  a  sound  that  startled  them.  At  last  they  reached  the 
tree  where  they  had  left  all  the  cocoa-nuts  with  the  exception 
of  the  one  that  the  sailor  had  brought  on.  When  they 
stopped,  Joyce  threw  himself  down  and  burst  into  tears. 

"  Leave  me  alone,"  he  said,  as  Stephen  began  to  speak  to 
him,  "  I  shall  be  better  directly,  but  it  has  been  awful.  I 
will  tell  you  about  it  afterwards.  I  tried  to  make  up  my  mind 
to  stand  it  bravely,  and  it  is  the  getting  out  of  it  when  there 
did  not  seem  to  be  a  chance  in  the  world  that  has  upset  me." 

In  five  minutes  he  rose  again  to  his  feet.  "I  am  ready  to 
go  on  now, ' '  he  said. 

"  Yes,  I  think  it  is  time  to  be  moving,  sir.  As  soon  as 
those  beggars  wake  up  and  find  you  have  gone,  they  will  set 
out  in  chase,  and  the  longer  start  we  get  the  better. ' ' 


CHAPTER  V 

AGAIN    ON   THE   ISLAND 

OVER  such  ground  it  was  impossible  to  hurry,  but  in  three- 
quarters  of  an  hour  they  reached  the  edge  of  the  wood. 
' '  I  have  been  thinking  that  we  had  better  take  to  the  water 
for  a  bit,"  Stephen  said.     "  They  are  sure  to  think  that  you 
have  made  for  the  coast,  and  they  will  not  be  long  in  finding 
our  footmarks.   Though  I  don't  know  much  about  the  Malays, 
I  expect  they  can  follow  a  track  like  all  other  savages.     The 
only  thing  to  settle  is  whether  we  shall  swim  across  the  river 
and  go  along  in  that  direction,  or  keep  on  this  side.     We 


AGAIN    ON    THE    ISLAND  93 

have  not  seen  anything  of  alligators,  and  I  don't  think  the 
sharks  ever  cross  the  bars  and  come  into  fresh  water." 

"  All  right,  sir  !  If  you  think  it  is  best  to  cross,  I  am 
ready,"  Wilcox  said.  "  A  dip  will  do  us  good,  for  the  heat 
in  that  wood  is  enough  to  roast  an  ox ;  besides,  it  will  wash 
the  mud  off  us.  But  we  must  look  about  for  a  log  to  put  the 
gun  and  our  pistols  and  the  ammunition  on,  we  must  not 
risk  wetting  that." 

There  were  many  pieces  of  drift-wood  by  the  edge  of  the 
water,  and  choosing  one  of  them  they  fastened  the  weapons 
and  cartridges  on  the  top,  and  then,  entering  the  water  and 
pushing  it  before  them,  swam  over  to  the  opposite  side.  Then 
taking  the  arms  again  they  let  the  log  drift  down  the  river, 
and  keeping  in  the  water  ankle-deep  they  followed  the  stream 
down  to  the  sea,  and  continued  their  course  along  the  sand 
washed  by  the  surf. 

"  How  long  a  start  do  you  think  we  shall  get,  Wilcox?" 
Stephen  asked. 

"  I  should  say  that  two  hours  is  as  much  as  we  can  hope 
for." 

"  Well,  we  shall  be  a  good  long  way  off  by  that  time.  I 
feel  a  new  man  after  that  swim. ' ' 

"  So  do  I,"  Joyce  said,  speaking  more  briskly  than  he  had 
hitherto  done. 

"  Well,  we  had  better  set  off  at  a  trot,"  the  sailor  said. 
"  I  expect  those  beggars  can  run  a  good  deal  faster  than  we 
can.  The  great  thing  is  for  us  to  get  so  far  away  before  it 
gets  dark  that  they  won't  be  able  to  see  our  figures.  If  it  is 
eight  bells  before  they  fairly  set  off  after  us,  they  will  only 
have  a  little  better  than  two  hours  and  a  half.  They  are  sure 
to  be  thrown  out  for  a  bit  at  the  mouth  of  the  river.  They 
will  see  our  footsteps  at  the  water  side,  but  won't  know 
whether  we  have  crossed  or  have  kept  along  on  that  side. 


94  WITH    COCHRANE   THE    DAUNTLESS 

Very  likely  some  of  them  will  go  one  way  and  some  the  other, 
still  they  are  sure  to  have  a  talk  and  a  delay.  They  ought 
not  to  travel  twice  as  fast  as  we  have,  at  any  rate,  and  they 
would  have  to  do  that  to  catch  us  before  it  is  dark." 

They  set  off  at  a  brisk  trot.  The  sand  was  fairly  hard  below 
the  spot  where  the  surf  rushed  up  over  it,  and  the  walking 
was  easy  in  comparison  to  that  in  the  swamp  or  on  loose  sand. 
Still  it  was  hot  work.  The  sun  blazed  down  upon  them, 
there  was  not  a  breath  of  wind,  and  they  were  drenched  with 
perspiration.  They  kept  on  steadily,  however,  slackening 
only  occasionally  into  a  walk  for  two  or  three  minutes,  and 
then  going  on  again  at  a  sharp  pace. 

"  They  won't  catch  us  before  it  gets  dark,"  the  sailor  said 
confidently.  "  I  reckon  we  must  be  making  near  seven 
knots  an  hour,  and  even  a  Malay  could  not  go  at  fourteen  ; 
besides,  they  will  have  to  keep  a  sharp  look-out  for  footmarks 
in  the  sand  above  water-mark,  as  we  might  at  any  time  come 
up  from  the  water  and  take  to  the  forest.  Anyhow,  we  must 
keep  it  up  as  long  as  we  can  go.  We  ain't  running  for  amuse- 
ment, it  is  for  a  big  prize,  for  our  lives  depend  on  our  keeping 
ahead." 

Anxiously  they  watched  the  sun  as  it  sank  down  towards 
the  horizon,  and  there  was  an  exclamation  of  satisfaction  as 
it  disappeared  below  the  water. 

"  Another  half-hour  and  we  shall  be  able  to  take  it  easy," 
Stephen  said.  "  I  should  not  think  they  would  keep  up 
the  search  after  dark,  and  then  we  could  safely  take  to  the 
forest.  The  wind  is  springing  up  already,  and  this  light 
drifting  sand  will  cover  all  signs  of  our  footsteps  before  morn- 
ing." 

"  We  had  better  keep  in  the  water  as  long  as  we  can, 
Master  Steve.  They  can't  trace  our  footsteps  here,  but  they 
might  under  the  trees.  These  sort  of  chaps  are  like  dogs.  I 


AGAIN   ON    THE    ISLAND  95 

expect  they  can  pretty  well  follow  you  by  smell,  and  the 
hope  of  getting  heads  will  keep  them  at  it  as  long  as  there  is 
the  slightest  chance  of  their  overtaking  us. ' ' 

"  Well,  we  may  as  well  be  on  the  safe  side  anyhow,  Wilcox, 
and  will  keep  on  here  as  long  as  we  can  drag  our  feet  along. 
We  have  got  no  boots  to  pinch  our  corns,  and  every  time  the 
surf  rushes  up  it  cools  our  feet,  so  we  ought  to  be  able  to  keep 
on  till  eight  bells  in  the  middle  watch,  by  that  time  I  should 
think  we  shall  have  gone  something  like  forty  miles  from  that 
river." 

"All  that,"  the  sailor  agreed.  "It  was  about  four  bells 
when  we  swam  across,  and  in  the  four  hours  we  have  cer- 
tainly gone  twenty-four  knots,  and  I  should  say  a  bit  further 
than  that.  If  we  only  make  three  knots  for  the  next  six  hours, 
we  shall  have  logged  over  forty  by  eight  bells,  and  I  should 
say  that  even  the  Malays  will  hardly  come  as  far  as  that, 
especially  as  the  men  who  take  this  side  won't  be  sure  that 
we  have  not  gone  the  other,  and  have  been  caught  by  their 
mates. ' ' 

They  kept  steadily  on,  but  their  speed  gradually  abated, 
and  for  the  last  two  hours  before  the  hands  of  Stephen's 
watch  pointed  to  twelve  o'clock,  they  stumbled  rather  than 
walked. 

"  I  think  that  will  do,"  he  said  at  last,  "  it  is  nearly  eight 
bells  now.  Let  us  tread  in  each  other's  footsteps  as  well  as 
we  can,  so  that  there  shall  only  be  one  line  of  marks. ' ' 

The  change  from  the  firm  sand  to  the  yielding  drift — in 
which  their  feet  sank  three  or  four  inches — finished  them,  and 
although  they  had  not  more  than  a  hundred  yards  to  walk  to 
the  trees,  it  seemed  to  them  that  they  would  never  get  there. 
At  last  they  reached  the  edge  of  the  forest,  staggered  a  few 
paces  in,  and  then  without  a  word  dropped  down  and  almost 
instantaneously  fell  asleep. 


96  WITH    COCHRANE    THE    DAUNTLESS 

The  sun  was  high  when  they  woke.  Stephen  was  the  first 
to  get  on  to  his  feet.  He  went  to  the  edge  of  the  trees  and 
looked  across.  To  his  satisfaction  he  saw  that  the  drifting 
sand  had  obliterated  all  trace  of  their  passage. 

"Then  I  vote,"  Wilcox  said,  when  he  was  told  the  news, 
"  that  we  go  a  bit  further  into  the  wood  and  camp  there  for 
the  day.  I  am  just  aching  from  head  to  foot." 

"  I  think  we  must  go  on  a  bit  further,  Wilcox.  You  see 
there  are  no  cocoa-nuts  here,  and  we  must  keep  on  until  we 
come  to  a  grove  of  them.  The  trees  are  never  far  apart,  and  we 
may  not  have  a  mile  to  go.  We  certainly  can't  stay  here  all 
day  without  something  to  eat  and  drink.  You  see  we  threw 
our  nuts  away  when  we  started." 

"I  suppose  you  are  right,  sir,"  the  sailor  said,  slowly  get- 
ting up  onto  his  feet ;  "  but  it  is  hard,  after  such  a  run  as  we 
made  yesterday,  to  have  to  get  up  anchor  again. ' ' 

"  Well,  we  can  take  it  easily,  Wilcox,  and  we  will  stop  at 
the  first  cocoa-nut  tree  we  come  to.  Now,  Tom,  as  we  go 
along  you  shall  tell  us  about  yesterday  ;  we  have  not  heard  a 
word  yet." 

"  Well,"  began  Joyce,  "  we  paddled  up  the  river,  as  you 
know.  It  was  as  much  as  we  could  do  sometimes  to  make 
head  against  the  current.  I  suppose  we  had  been  gone  about 
an  hour  when  we  saw  a  troop  of  monkeys  on  the  boughs  of  a 
tree  overhanging  the  water.  They  did  not  seem  a  bit  afraid 
of  us,  but  chattered  and  screamed.  We  shot  three  of  them. 
I  did  not  fire,  for  I  could  not  bring  myself  to  kill  one  of 
them.  It  was  like  shooting  at  a  child.  We  picked  them  out 
of  the  water  and  put  them  in  the  boat,  and  then  paddled  on 
again.  We  had  just  got  to  a  turn  in  the  river  when  two  big 
canoes  came  round  the  corner.  It  was  of  no  use  our  trying 
to  get  away,  for  they  could  go  six  feet  to  our  one.  Mr. 
Towel  stood  up  in  the  stern  and  held  both  his  arms  up  to 


AGAIN    ON    THE    ISLAND  97 

show  that  we  were  friendly,  but  directly  afterwards  a  shower 
of  spears  came  whizzing  down  at  us.  One  hit  Jackson,  who 
was  in  the  bow,  somewhere  in  the  body.  He  fired  at  them, 
and  then  fell  down  in  the  bottom  of  the  boat.  Then  the 
rest  of  us  fired,  and  for  a  moment  they  sheered  off,  but  the 
men  had  just  time  to  reload  their  guns  when  the  Malays 
came  at  us.  The  men  fired  again,  and  a  moment  later  the 
canoes  ran  alongside.  We  took  to  our  pistols,  but  the  Malays 
came  leaping  on  board  like  demons. 

"  I  don't  know  anything  more  about  that  part  of  the  busi- 
ness, for  I  got  a  crack  on  the  head  with  a  club,  and  did  not 
know  anything  more  till  I  was  hauled  on  shore  and  chucked 
down.  Then  I  saw  them  bring  from  the  canoes  the  heads  of 
all  the  others.  It  was  frightful.  Then  they  dragged  the 
bodies  out  from  the  bottom  of  the  canoes.  They  had  all  been 
stripped,  and  I  believe  I  should  have  fainted  if  a  big  Malay 
had  not  given  me  a  tremendous  kick,  and  made  me  walk  up 
to  the  village.  As  soon  as  I  got  there  they  tied  me  up  and 
staked  me  out.  There  was  a  tremendous  noise  and  shouting 
and  yelling,  but  what  was  done  I  don't  know,  as  I  could  see 
nothing  but  the  sky  and  the  wall  of  the  hut.  It  was  an  aw- 
ful time ;  first  because  I  knew  that  sooner  or  later  they  would 
kill  me,  and  in  the  next  place,  because  I  was  driven  pretty 
nearly  mad  by  the  flies  and  things  that  settled  on  my  face. 
Of  course  I  could  not  brush  them  away,  and  all  that  I  could 
do  was  to  shake  my  head,  and  they  did  not  seem  to  mind 
that.  It  seems  ridiculous  that,  after  seeing  one's  friends  killed 
and  knowing  that  one  is  going  to  be  killed  oneself,  one  should 
worry  over  flies,  but  I  can  tell  you  I  went  nearly  out  of  my 
mind  with  irritation  at  the  tickling  of  their  feet.  It  seemed 
to  me  that  I  was  there  for  ages,  though  I  knew  by  the  height 
of  the  sun  that  it  was  only  about  noon.  The  thirst,  too,  was 
fearful,  and  I  made  up  my  mind  that  the  sooner  they  came  and 


98  WITH    COCHRANE    THE    DAUNTLESS 

killed  me  the  better.  I  found  myself  talking  all  sorts  of  non- 
sense, and  I  do  think  that  I  should  have  gone  out  of  my  mind 
before  the  day  was  over.  When  first  I  heard  your  voice  I 
thought  it  must  be  a  dream,  like  some  of  the  other  ideas  that 
came  into  my  mind.  I  had  thought  of  you  both  when  I  was 
first  fastened  up,  and  wondered  whether  the  Malays  would  find 
you.  I  had  even  thought  at  first  that  if  you  only  knew  where 
I  was  you  might  try  to  get  me  away  after  dark  if  I  was  not 
killed  before  that,  and  you  can  guess  my  feelings  when  I  be- 
came convinced  that  it  was  really  you.  How  did  you  know 
what  had  happened  ?  ' ' 

"  You  must  have  been  insensible  for  a  good  bit,  Tom.  We 
heard  the  firing,  and  thought  that  there  was  too  much  of  it 
for  shooting  monkeys,  and  that  you  must  have  been  attacked, 
so  we  made  our  way  along  among  the  bushes  by  the  bank. 
Presently  the  two  canoes  came  down,  and  we  made  out  some 
heads  in  the  stern  of  each  boat.  They  went  to  the  mouth  of 
the  river,  to  see,  no  doubt,  if  there  was  a  ship  there.  They 
came  back  again  in  half  an  hour.  We  tried  to  count  the 
heads,  and  both  of  us  thought  that  there  were  about  the  same 
number  in  each  boat.  Of  course  we  could  not  be  sure,  but 
we  determined  to  come  on  to  the  village  and  find  out  for  cer- 
tain. I  climbed  up  a  high  tree  a  short  distance  from  it — the 
one  where  we  came  upon  the  cocoa-nuts — and  made  you  out 
lying  beside  a  hut.  i  knew  by  the  white  ducks  that  it  was 
either  you  or  poor  Towel.  Then  we  worked  round,  waited 
until  the  village  had  gone  off  to  sleep,  and  then  came  for 
you.  You  see  the  Malays  had  no  idea  that  there  were  any 
more  whites  about,  and  therefore  took  no  trouble  about 
you.  No  doubt  they  thought  that  the  boat  had  escaped  from 
a  wreck,  and  that  all  who  had  got  away  in  her  had  gone  up 
the  river  together.  Ah  !  there  is  a  cocoa-nut.  I  am  glad 
our  walk  is  over,  for  I  am  beginning  to  feel  hot  and  thirsty. ' ' 


AGAIN    ON    THE    ISLAND  99 

"  So  am  I,  and  stiff  and  sore  all  over." 

The  cocoa-nut  tree  was  the  first  of  a  grove.  Stephen,  who 
was  by  far  the  most  active  of  the  party,  soon  climbed  one  of 
the  trees,  and  threw  a  score  of  nuts  down.  They  went  a 
little  distance  further  back  into  the  forest.  Each  consumed 
the  contents  of  four  nuts,  then  two  of  them  lay  down  to  sleep 
again,  while  the  other  kept  watch.  The  march  was  not  re- 
sumed until  after  sunset.  They  had  another  meal  of  cocoa- 
nuts  before  they  started,  and  each  took  three  nuts  for  use  on 
the  journey.  They  again  walked  at  the  edge  of  the  water,  as 
they  had  done  the  day  before.  It  was  by  far  the  pleasantest 
way,  and  they  kept  on  until  daylight  appeared,  and  then  again 
went  into  the  wood. 

"  I  should  think  now,"  Stephen  said,  as  after  a  good  sleep 
they  ate  a  cocoa-nut  breakfast,  "  that  we  need  not  bother  any 
more  about  the  Malays  of  that  village.  It  is  quite  possible 
that  we  passed  another  last  night,  though  of  course  the  sand- 
hills would  have  prevented  our  seeing  it.  The  question  is 
now,  what  are  we  to  do  next  ?  ' ' 

"That  is  what  I  was  thinking  all  the  time  that  we  were 
walking  last  night,"  Joyce  said.  "We  can't  keep  on  tramp- 
ing and  living  on  cocoa-nuts  for  ever." 

"That  is  quite  certain,  Tom,  but  there  is  no  reason  why 
we  should  do  so.  There  must  be  some  villages  on  this  coast, 
and  when  we  start  this  evening  I  vote  we  keep  along  here  in- 
stead of  going  down  to  the  water.  Where  there  is  a  village 
there  must  be  fishing  canoes,  and  all  we  have  got  to  do  is  to 
take  one,  and  put  to  sea.  I  don't  mean  to  say  that  we  can 
get  in  and  push  straight  away,  for  we  must  have  some  pro- 
visions ;  but  when  we  have  found  a  village  we  can  hide  up 
near  it,  and  get  as  many  cocoa-nuts  as  we  can  carry.  Besides, 
there  are  sure  to  be  bananas  and  other  fruit-trees  close  by,  and 
after  laying  our  cocoa-nuts  down  by  the  edge  of  the  water, 


100  WITH    COCHRANE    THE    DAUNTLESS 

we  can  go  up  and  cut  as  many  bananas  as  we  like,  and  then 
we  shall  have  enough  food  to  last  us  ten  days  or  so.  There  is 
one  comfort,  wherever  we  may  land  there  cannot  be  a  worse 
lot  of  Malays  than  there  are  about  here." 

"That  is  a  capital  plan,  Master  Stephen,"  Wilcox  said. 
"  I  have  not  been  thinking  of  a  village,  except  as  to  how  to 
get  past  it ;  but,  as  you  say,  there  is  no  reason  why  we  should 
not  make  off  in  a  canoe." 

The  next  night  they  kept  along  just  inside  the  trees,  and 
had  walked  but  two  hours  when  they  found  that  these  ended 
abruptly,  and  that  they  stood  on  the  edge  of  a  clearing. 

"  Here  is  your  village,  Stephen." 

"Yes;  one  hardly  hoped  to  find  one  so  soon.  Well,  the 
first  thing  is  to  go  down  and  search  in  the  sand-hills  for 
canoes. ' ' 

Four  or  five  were  found  lying  together  in  a  hollow  some 
twenty  yards  beyond  high-water  mark.  They  examined  them 
carefully. 

"  Any  of  them  will  do,"  Wilcox  said,  "  but  I  think  this  is 
the  best  one.  It  is  a  little  larger  than  the  others,  and  the 
wood  feels  newer  and  sounder.  I  expect  she  is  meant  for  four 
paddlers,  and  she  will  carry  us  and  a  fair  cargo  well." 

"That  is  settled,  then,"  Stephen  said.  "I  propose  that 
we  go  back  some  little  distance  from  the  village,  get  our 
cocoa-nuts  at  once,  and  bring  them  back  and  hide  them  in 
the  bushes  not  far  from  where  the  clearing  begins.  It  will 
save  time  to-morrow." 

"  Why  should  we  not  go  to-night?  "  Joyce  asked.  "  It  is 
only  about  nine  o'clock  now,  and  if  we  get  the  cocoa-nuts 
near  here,  we  can  make  two  or  three  journeys  down  to  the 
boat  with  them,  and  be  off  before  midnight." 

"  So  we  might,  Tom.     What  do  you  say,  Wilcox?  " 

"The  sooner  the  better,  says  I,"  the  sailor  replied.     "  As 


AGAIN    ON   THE    ISLAND  101 

Mr.  Joyce  says,  we  can  be  off  by  eight  bells  easy,  and  we  shall 
be  out  of  sight  of  this  village  long  before  daybreak." 

"Well,  Wilcox,  will  you  and  Mr.  Joyce  get  the  cocoa- 
nuts,  and  while  you  are  doing  it  I  will  creep  round  this  clear- 
ing and  get  bananas.  I  can  see  lots  of  their  broad  leaves 
over  there.  As  I  get  them  I  will  bring  them  to  this  corner, 
and  by  the  time  you  have  got  a  store  of  nuts,  I  shall  have  a 
pile  of  bananas.  I  think  you  had  better  go  four  or  five  hun- 
dred yards  away  before  you  cut  the  nuts,  for  they  come  down 
with  such  a  thump  that  any  native  who  is  awake  here  might 
very  well  hear  them." 

"We  will  go  a  bit  away,  sir,"  Wilcox  said,  "but  if  we 
take  pains  to  let  them  drop  each  time  just  as  there  is  a  puff  of 
wind,  there  is  no  fear  of  their  hearing  them." 

They  separated,  and  Stephen,  entering  the  clearing,  soon 
came  upon  a  banana  tree  with  long  bunches  of  the  fruit.  Two 
of  these  were  as  much  as  he  could  carry,  and  his  portion  of 
the  work  was  soon  done,  and  indeed  he  had  carried  them 
down  to  the  water's  edge  before  his  companions  had  brought 
three  loads  of  cocoa-nuts  to  the  point  where  he  had  left  them. 
He  helped  to  take  these  down,  then  the  canoe  was  lifted  and 
carried  to  the  edge  of  the  water,  being  taken  in  far  enough  to 
float  each  time  the  surf  ran  up.  Then  the  fruit  was  placed 
in  it. 

"  I  wish  we  had  poor  Mr.  Towel  with  us  to  take  her  through 
the  surf,"  Wilcox  said. 

"  I  wish  we  had  ;  but  fortunately  it  is  not  very  heavy." 

"  No,  sir ;  it  is  sure  not  to  be,"  the  sailor  said.  "  I  have 
noticed  that  they  always  put  their  villages  at  points  where  the 
surf  is  lighter  than  usual.  I  suppose  the  water  is  shallower, 
or  deeper,  or  something.  I  don't  know  what  it  is,  but  there 
is  certainly  a  difference.  Besides,  there  has  been  no  wind  to 
speak  of  since  we  landed,  and  the  waves  are  nothing  to  what 


102  WITH    COCHRANE    THE   DAUNTLESS 

they  were  then.  Now,  gentlemen,  as  I  am  more  accustomed 
to  this  sort  of  thing  than  you  are,  I  will  take  the  place  in  the 
stern,  where  I  can  steer  her  a  bit.  The  moment  she  floats  as 
the  surf  comes  in,  and  I  see  the  chance  is  a  good  one,  I  will 
give  the  word ;  then  we  will  all  paddle  as  hard  as  we  can,  and 
go  out  as  the  surf  draws  back,  so  as  to  meet  the  next  wave 
before  it  breaks.  Everything  depends  on  that." 

They  took  their  places  in  the  canoe,  and  grasped  the  pad- 
dles that  they  had  found  in  her.  Two  or  three  waves  passed 
under  them,  and  then  they  saw  one  higher  than  the  others 
approaching  them. 

"We  will  go  out  on  the  back  of  this  one,"  Wilcox  said. 
"Paddle  the  moment  the  surf  lifts  the  canoe,  and  don't  let 
her  be  washed  up  a  foot." 

The  wave  fell  over  with  a  crash,  and  a  torrent  of  foam 
rushed  up  towards  them. 

"Now,"  Wilcox  exclaimed,  as  the  white  line  reached  the 
bow,  "  paddle  for  your  lives  !  " 

For  a  moment,  in  spite  of  their  desperate  efforts,  they  were 
carried  upwards,  then  the  canoe  seemed  to  hang  in  the  air, 
and  they  were  riding  forward  with  the  speed  of  an  arrow  on 
the  receding  water. 

"All  you  know,"  Wilcox  shouted,  and  as  the  rush  of 
water  ceased  they  drove  her  ahead  to  meet  the  next  wave.  It 
rose  higher  and  higher.  The  canoe  reached  it,  and,  as  it 
passed  under  them,  stood  almost  upright.  Two  or  three  more 
desperate  strokes,  and  they  heard  a  crash  behind  them. 

"  Row,  row  !  "  Wilcox  shouted,  as  they  felt  the  boat  drawn 
backwards.  It  was  but  for  a  few  seconds,  then  they  moved 
ahead  again,  passed  over  the  next  wave,  and  were  safe.  They 
now  settled  to  steady  paddling,  and  before  they  had  gone 
many  hundred  yards  from  shore  they  no  longer  felt  the  long 
smooth  rollers,  over  which  the  canoe  glided  insensibly. 


AGAIN   ON   THE    ISLAND  103 

By  daylight  the  land  they  had  left  was  far  behind  them, 
the  low-lying  coast  had  sunk  from  their  view,  and  the  hills 
behind  were  almost  shrouded  from  sight  by  the  mist  that  rose 
from  the  swamps. 

"  It  was  well  we  rescued  Mr.  Joyce  before  it  was  dark,"  the 
sailor  said  to  Stephen.  "  One  night  in  those  swamps  is  enough 
to  lay  any  white  man  up  with  fever.  That  was  why  I  was  so 
anxious  to  get  him  away  at  once.  I  did  not  think  that  they 
would  kill  him  straight  off.  If  they  had  wanted  him  for  the 
feast  they  would  have  cut  off  his  head  when  they  caught  him. 
I  expect  they  would  have  kept  him  for  some  other  occasion  ; 
but  I  wanted  to  get  him  out  of  it  before  the  mists  began  to 
rise  from  the  swamps.  Now,  sir,  as  we  are  well  away,  shall  I 
put  her  head  north  or  south  ?  ' ' 

"I  don't  think  it  matters  much,  Wilcox.  There  is  some 
high  land  just  ahead  now,  we  may  as  well  make  in  that  di- 
rection as  any  other ;  but  if  we  get  to  a  small  island  on  the 
way,  I  should  think  that  it  would  be  safest  to  land  there,  and 
wait  for  a  few  days  anyhow,  as  we  agreed  before,  to  see  if 
there  are  any  signs  of  a  sail.  At  any  rate,  we  won't  go  near, 
by  daylight,  any  island  likely  to  be  inhabited." 

After  paddling  for  some  hours  they  saw  a  low  island  that 
seemed  to  be  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  in  diameter,  and 
headed  towards  it.  Before  they  reached  it,  however,  Wilcox 
said : 

' '  Do  you  know,  Mr.  Joyce,  I  have  been  thinking  for  some 
time  that  I  knew  that  hill  we  were  pointing  to,  and,  now  we 
have  opened  it  out  a  bit  more,  I  feel  sure  of  it." 

The  lads  ceased  paddling,  and  looked  intently  at  the  hill, 
now  some  twelve  miles  away.  It  had  a  flat  top  that  seemed 
to  be  split  asunder  by  a  crack  running  through  it. 

"  I  know  it  now,"  Stephen  exclaimed  excitedly,  "  it  is  the 
island  where  that  wreck  was." 


104  WITH    COCHRANE   THE   DAUNTLESS 

"That  is  it,  sure  enough,  sir.  I  have  been  thinking  it 
was  so  for  some  time,  but  it  is  only  now  that  I  have  caught 
the  light  through  that  gap  at  the  top.  It  was  more  open 
from  the  point  where  the  Tiger  lay  when  we  started  for 
shore,  but  if  we  row  on  for  a  mile  or  two  and  then  make 
straight  for  it,  I  think  we  shall  just  about  strike  the  point 
where  the  wreck  is  lying.  No,  I  think  we  had  better  wait  a 
while,  Mr.  Joyce,"  he  said,  as  the  latter  dipped  his  paddle  in 
the  water  and  turned  the  boat's  head  towards  the  island. 

"  I  think  we  had  better  wait  till  the  sun  gets  pretty  low. 
We  know  there  ain't  any  villages  near  the  wreck,  for  she 
must  have  been  there  a  good  month  afore  we  found  her,  and 
it  was  certain  then  that  no  native  had  been  near  her.  Still 
there  may  be  some  higher  up  on  the  slopes,  and  they  might 
make  us  out,  so  it  is  better  that  we  should  not  get  within  six 
or  eight  miles  of  land  before  it  begins  to  be  dark.  We  could 
not  go  to  a  better  place.  First  of  all,  there  are  no  natives ; 
secondly,  we  may  pick  up  all  sorts  of  useful  things  about  the 
shore.  We  did  not  see  anything  but  bales  and  wreckage 
where  we  landed,  but  it  was  all  rock  there.  Now  some  of 
the  casks  and  things  may  have  floated  along,  and  have  been 
cast  up  upon  the  sand.  Then,  it  is  about  the  likeliest  point 
for  sighting  the  Tiger.  The  skipper  would  naturally  say  to 
himself,  There  is  no  saying  where  the  boat  has  gone  to,  but 
if  it  is  anywhere  near  the  island  where  we  lost  them,  they 
would  be  likely  to  make  for  the  wreck  in  hopes  of  finding 
some  provisions  cast  up  there ;  and  so  he  would  sail  round  to 
have  a  look. ' ' 

"  I  think  he  would,"  the  boys  both  agreed,  letting  the 
boat  drift  quietly.  They  made  a  hearty  meal  of  bananas  and 
cocoa-nut  milk,  and  then  all  lay  down  in  the  canoe  and  dozed 
for  some  hours.  The  two  lads  were  roused  by  Wilcox  say- 
ing : 


AGAIN   ON   THE   ISLAND  105 

"  I  think,  gentlemen,  we  can  paddle  on  quietly  now;  the 
sun  will  be  setting  in  less  than  an  hour." 

Resuming  their  seats,  they  paddled  gently  on  until  the  sun 
disappeared,  then  quickened  their  pace,  and  in  another  hour 
reached  the  shore.  They  had  no  difficulty  in  landing,  for 
the  side  on  which  the  wreck  was  lying  was  sheltered  by  the 
island  itself  from  the  rollers,  and  it  was  a  sandy  beach. 

"  I  don't  think  that  we  are  far  from  the  spot,"  Wilcox 
said,  "  for  we  made  straight  for  that  crack  on  the  hill,  and 
kept  it  open  all  the  while.  I  reckon  we  can't  be  more  than 
half  a  mile  from  where  the  wreck  was  lying. 

"  I  don't  suppose  we  shall  see  anything  of  that,  the  cyclone 
must  have  finished  it.  However,  we  will  walk  along  the 
shore  till  we  get  to  the  spot.  We  cannot  mistake  that.  We 
will  keep  a  bit  back  from  the  sea.  We  may  light  upon  some- 
thing as  we  go,  but  it  will  be  sure  to  be  well  inland ;  you 
know  we  saw  how  far  the  sea  washed  things  up  beside  the 
wreck. ' ' 

The  night  was  too  dark,  however,  for  them  to  distinguish 
objects  ten  yards  away,  and  they  soon  came  down  to  the 
water's  edge  again,  following  it  until  the  character  of  the 
shore  changed  and  rocks  took  the  place  of  the  sand. 

"  That  is  all  right,"  the  sailor  said  ;  "  now  I  think  we  had 
better  go  back  to  the  boat  again  till  we  get  daylight.  It 
would  never  do  to  walk  across  these  rocks  in  the  dark  with 
naked  feet.  It  was  bad  enough  when  it  was  light,  but  we  should 
cut  our  feet  to  pieces  if  we  tried  it  now.  There  is  no  hurry 
about  it,  as  we  are  within  half  a  mile  of  the  wreck.  We 
know  that  everything  is  pretty  well  smashed  up  that  went 
ashore  there,  so  that  we  are  far  more  likely  to  find  something 
on  the  sands,  and  we  shall  see  the  Tiger  just  as  well  from 
where  the  canoe  is  as  from  the  wreck.  The  first  thing  to 
look  for  is  water.  I  don't  say  that  the  cocoa-nuts  would  not 


106  WITH    COCHRANE    THE    DAUNTLESS 

supply  us  for  another  week  ;  but  if  we  are  going  to  stay  here 
long — and  for  my  part  I  don't  see  anything  better  to  do — we 
must  either  find  another  cocoa-nut  grove  or  water." 

"I  dont  think  we  are  likely  to  find  another  cocoa-nut 
grove,"  Stephen  said. 

"Why  not,  sir?  They  have  them  mostly  on  all  these 
islands. ' ' 

"  That  is  true,"  Stephen  agreed  ;  "  but  I  should  say  it  is 
just  because  there  are  none  here  that  there  are  no  villages  any- 
where about." 

"  I  did  not  think  of  that,  sir ;  yes,  I  expect  you  are  right ; 
and  in  that  case  it  is  still  more  necessary  to  hunt  for  water. 
If  we  can  find  it  within  four  or  five  miles  either  side  of  the 
wreck  we  are  all  right,  because  the  Tiger  could  not  come 
here  without  our  seeing  her ;  but  I  should  not  like  to  be 
much  further  away.  However,  most  of  these  islands  have 
water,  especially  when  they  are  hilly ;  and  as  we  have  been 
lucky  so  far,  it  will  be  hard  if  we  don't  find  a  stream  of  some 
sort  along  ten  miles  of  shore. ' ' 

The  next  morning  they  set  out  on  a  tour  of  exploration. 
They  were  not  long  before  they  came  upon  many  relics  of 
the  wreck  :  planks,  spars,  and  remains  of  the  cargo.  They 
lay  nearly  two  hundred  yards  from  the  shore,  and  bore  no 
signs  of  the  rough  usage  that  had  marked  the  wreckage  among 
the  rocks. 

"Hurrah!  there  are  some  tubs,"  Joyce  shouted,  as  they 
reached  the  top  of  a  low  sand-hill.  They  broke  into  a  run, 
and  were  soon  standing  beside  six  casks,  lying  a  short  dis- 
tance apart. 

"  Salt  junk,"  Wilcox  said,  as  they  looked  at  the  cask  they 
first  came  to,  "  and  no  bad  thing  either  ;  cocoa-nuts  are  good 
for  drink,  but  that  soft,  pulpy  stuff  inside  don't  go  very  far ; 
and  after  a  chap  has  been  eating  it  for  a  week  he  wants  to 


AGAIN    ON    THE    ISLAND  107 

get  his  teeth  into  something  more  substantial.  This  ain't  no 
good,"  he  went  on,  giving  a  kick  at  the  next  cask,  "unless 
the  natives  come  up  and  we  open  trade  with  them.  These 
are  goods  they  shipped  at  Calcutta.  This  is  better,"  he  went 
on,  as  he  looked  at  the  next ;  "  this  'ere  is  biscuits  ;  and  with 
biscuits  and  salt  junk,  and  a  banana  now  and  then,  no  man 
need  grumble." 

The  next  two  were,  like  the  second,  filled  with  trade  ar- 
ticles ;  the  last  was  a  cask  of  flour. 

"Well,  we  can  stop  here  a  couple  of  months  if  we  like, 
gentlemen,  if  we  can  but  hit  upon  water ;  for  that,  of  course, 
we  must  look  beyond  the  line  of  sand ;  a  river  can  cut  through 
it,  but  a  little  stream  would  find  its  way  underneath  the  sand 
to  the  sea. ' ' 

As  they  approached  the  rocky  ground,  which  rose  like  a 
ridge,  and  could  be  traced  far  inland,  the  sailor  said  :  "  This 
is  the  most  likely  spot.  Any  water  that  came  down  from  the 
hills  would  run  along  at  the  foot  of  these  rocks  to  the  sea. ' ' 

"  I  think  that  you  are  right,  Wilcox  ;  the  foliage  looks 
brighter  along  by  the  rocks  than  it  does  anywhere  else,  and  I 
should  not  be  surprised  if  we  found  a  stream  there." 

As  they  approached  the  rocks  within  a  hundred  yards,  the 
hope  became  a  certainty,  for  there  was  some  growth  of  verd- 
ure. They  quickened  their  steps  and  ran  forward,  but,  to 
their  disappointment,  there  was  no  stream,  however  small. 

"  We  have  got  to  dig  for  it,"  Wilcox  said  ;  "  there  is  water 
not  far  down,  I  will  swear." 

The  soil  was  chiefly  composed  of  sand,  and  they  set  to  work 
with  their  hands  to  scrape  a  hole  in  it.  They  had  got  but  a 
foot  down  when  the  soil  became  moist,  and  a  foot  lower  water 
began  to  ooze  out  of  the  sides  into  the  hole. 

"  Thank  God  for  that !  "  the  sailor  said  reverently,  "that 
makes  it  safe.  This  evening,  when  it  gets  cool,  we  will  bring 


108  WITH    COCHRANE   THE    DAUNTLESS 

the  paddles  here,  and  will  soon  dig  a  hole  for  our  well.  We 
can't  do  better  than  roll  a  tub  here  and  sink  it  in  the  hole, 
and  bring  the' canoe  to  the  edge  of  that  rock  down  by  the  sea, 
then  we  have  only  got  to  chop  some  boughs  and  make  a  sort 
of  hut,  and  we  shall  be  as  comfortable  as  if  we  were  back 
home." 

"It  is  curious  finding  a  rock  here,"  Joyce  said  presently, 
as  they  made  their  way  over  to  it.  ' '  For  all  the  distance  that 
we  have  gone  along  by  the  sea,  it  has  been  nothing  but  sand  : 
it  is  rum  black-looking  stuff,  too." 

"  I  expect  it  is  lava,"  Stephen  said.  "  There  are  lots  of 
volcanoes  among  these  islands,  and  I  believe  that  high  hill 
is  one,  and  that  if  we  were  to  climb  up  we  should  find  there 
was  a  crater  there.  You  see  we  are  just  in  a  line  with  that 
gap,  and  this  rock  goes  exactly  in  that  direction.  I  expect 
that  in  some  eruption  ever  so  long  ago,  the  crater  split  there, 
and  the  lava  poured  down  here  into  the  sea." 

"  Very  likely  that  is  it,  Stephen  ;  it  must  have  been  a  long 
time  ago  anyhow;  you  see  there  are  big  trees  growing  on  it." 

In  ten  minutes  they  arrived  at  the  spot  where  the  wreck 
had  been ;  her  keel  remained  there,  but  with  this  exception 
she  had  entirely  disappeared.  They  took  another  look  among 
the  wreckage,  cut  off  some  lengths  of  rope  and  coiled  them 
up,  and  also  a  sail,  which  the  sailor  pronounced  to  be  a  top- 
gallant sail.  This  they  rolled  up,  fastened  it  by  short  pieces 
of  rope,  and  then,  the  sailor  taking  the  middle  and  the  lads 
the  ends  on  their  shoulders,  they  carried  it  to  what  they  al- 
ready called  their  "  well." 

"  We  will  set  to  work  at  once  to  rig  up  a  tent  under  the 
shade  of  these  trees,"  the  sailor  said,  "  it  will  keep  the  night 
mists  off  better  than  branches  ;  and  we  will  bring  another 
sail  over  to  cover  the  ground  and  keep  the  mist  from  rising 
inside." 


AGAIN    ON    THE    ISLAND  109 

"  What  are  we  going  to  cook  our  junk  in  ?  "  Joyce  asked 
suddenly. 

The  sailor  looked  at  his  companion  in  dismay.  "  Dash 
my  timbers,"  he  said,  "I  never  thought  of  that;  that  is  a 
go.  Perhaps  we  can  manage  it  in  the  native  way  :  they  boil 
things  by  putting  water  into  a  big  shell,  and  dropping  hot 
stones  into  it  until  it  boils.  We  have  not  got  any  shells,  but 
we  might  find  a  hollow  in  the  rock  that  will  hold  water. ' ' 

"  That  is  all  very  well,  Wilcox  ;  but  how  are  we  going  to 
heat  our  stones  ?  ' ' 

"You  have  done  me  there,  Master  Stephen,"  the  sailor 
said,  in  a  tone  of  utter  disgust;  "we  have  not  got  flint  or 
tinder." 

"We  might  manage  the  tinder  easily  enough,"  Stephen 
said,  "  by  using  rotten  wood  ;  but  tinder  is  of  no  use  with- 
out steel.  We  shall  have  to  eat  our  biscuits  without  meat, 
Wilcox,  unless  we  can  light  a  fire  by  rubbing  two  sticks  to- 
gether." 

"  That  ain't  to  be  done,  sir;  I  have  seen  white  men  try  it 
over  and  over  again,  and  I  have  tried  it  myself,  but  it  ain't 
no  manner  of  good.  The  Almighty  has  given  us  a  lot  of 
knowledge  that  he  has  not  given  to  these  black  fellows,  but  he 
has  balanced  it  up  by  giving  them  the  knack  of  lighting  a 
fire  which  he  has  not  given  to  us.  I  never  heard  of  a  white 
man  who  could  make  fire  in  that  way." 

"Well,  I  will  have  a  try,  anyhow,"  Joyce  said;  "there 
can't  be  anything  special  about  a  Malay  that  he  can  make  fire 
more  than  a  white  man." 

"You  may  try  as  much  as  you  like,  Master  Joyce,"  the 
sailor  said,  shaking  his  head  solemnly,  "but  mark  my  words, 
you  won't  be  able  to  do  it.  It  is  a  pity,  too,  for  with  all  this 
wood  that  has  been  drying  as  if  on  purpose  for  us,  we  could 
have  had  one  without  being  afraid  of  the  smoke." 


110  WITH    COCHRANE    THE    DAUNTLESS 

"Well,  we  must  not  grumble;  we  have  got  a  lot  to  be 
thankful  for ;  and  we  can  do  without  meat  well  enough. ' ' 

"Yes,  Mr.  Joyce,"  Wilcox  said  reluctantly;  "only,  you 
know,  I  wish  we  had  not  come  across  that  cask  of  salt  junk, 
then  one  would  never  have  thought  about  it;  but  seeing  it 
there,  and  not  being  able  to  cook  it,  is  enough  to  make  a  saint 
grumble,  I  should  say." 

"  Not  if  he  were  really  a  saint,  Wilcox.  However,  don't 
make  up  your  mind  that  you  are  not  going  to  get  your  teeth 
into  that  junk  till  I  give  up  the  hope  of  making  a  fire. ' ' 

"  Well,  sir,  we  will  roll  the  three  barrels  over  here,  and 
then  set  about  rigging  up  the  tent.  There  is  nothing  like 
being  busy." 

By  nightfall  they  had  got  the  tent  up.  They  had  had  some 
argument  over  the  best  site.  All  would  have  preferred  to 
have  erected  it  on  the  low  ground,  near  their  well,  but  finally 
a  point  was  decided  upon,  some  little  distance  higher — a  level 
spot  being  found  on  the  rock  where  some  trees  offered  every 
convenience  for  pitching  it,  and  the  surface  of  the  rock  was 
fairly  flat.  A  few  armfuls  of  coarse  grass  sufficed  to  fill  up  the 
inequalities,  and  render  it  even  enough  for  sleeping  on.  Here 
they  had  the  advantage  of  getting  the  sea-breeze,  and  of 
having  a  wide  view  across  the  water,  while  trees  growing  be- 
hind them  completely  hid  the  tent  from  being  seen  from  the 
higher  ground.  Before  erecting  it  they  had  deepened  the 
well,  and  found  that  the  water  was  clear  and  good,  and  that 
it  flowed  in  so  abundantly  there  was  no  fear  whatever  of  the 
supply  falling  short. 

The  next  morning  Wilcox  and  Joyce  started  for  an  early 
walk,  with  a  view  to  seeing  whether  there  were  any  things 
thrown  up  on  the  sand  beyond  the  rock.  Stephen  was  to  stay 
behind  at  the  tent  and  keep  watch  for  a  sail. 

"  I  will  leave  the  gun  behind  with  you,  Master  Stephen," 


HOME  111 

Wilcox  said ;  "  Mr.  Joyce  has  got  his  pistols,  and  I  have  my 
cutlass.  If  you  want  us  back,  or  if  you  make  out  a  sail,  you 
fire  it  off;  we  will  come  back  as  quick  as  we  can.  Don't  you 
fidget  if  we  are  some  time  away  ;  casks  may  have  floated  a 
good  bit  along  before  they  got  thrown  up,  and  it  is  just  as  well 
to  see  the  thing  through  now,  and  then  we  sha'n't  have  to  do 
it  again.  We  will  keep  a  good  look-out  for  a  sail  too,  for  it 
is  like  enough  that  we  may  be  a  long  way  beyond  the  sound 
of  the  gun.  You  see  we  can  make  out  from  here  that  a  mile 
further  on  the  trees  come  down  to  near  the  sea  again,  just  as 
they  did  on  the  other  island.  We  will  take  some  cocoa-nuts 
with  us,  in  case  we  should  not  light  upon  any  there.  We 
sha'n't  be  uneasy  about  you,  because  we  know  for  certain  that 
there  ain't  any  natives  near;  and,  in  the  same  way,  you  need 
not  trouble  yourself  about  us. ' ' 

"All  right,  Wilcox  !  I  will  see  whether  I  can't  get  some 
junk  cooked  for  you,  ready  for  a  meal  at  sunset." 

The  sailor  smiled  grimly.  "  All  right,  sir;  if  I  find  some 
meat  cooked  for  me,  I  will  guarantee  that  I  will  eat  it,  even  if 
it  is  as  tough  as  an  alligator." 


CHAPTER   VI 

HOME 

AS  soon  as  his  companions  had  left  him,  Stephen  went  off 
and  brought  up  as  much  dried  wood  as  he  could  carry, 
among  it  a  piece  of  plank  that  was  almost  rotten.  This  he 
crumbled  up.  Then  he  set  the  cask  of  salt  junk  on  end,  and 
with  a  heavy  piece  of  rock  hammered  away  until  he  forced  the 
head  in.  Then  he  took  out  a  good-sized  piece  of  meat  and  put 
it  into  the  well.  The  water  here  was  constantly  changing,  a 


112  WITH    COCHRANE   THE    DAUNTLESS 

current  flowing  through  it  towards  the  sea.  Then  he  brought 
up  two  or  three  more  loads  of  wreckage  and  sat  down  under 
the  awning,  for  it  could  scarcely  be  termed  a  tent,  as  both 
ends  were  open  to  allow  a  free  passage  for  the  air.  Here  he 
sat  for  some  hours,  occasionally  getting  up  and  looking  over 
the  sea  to  the  right  and  left.  It  was  not  until  it  was  nearly 
noon  and  the  sun  was  overhead  that  he  could  try  the  experi- 
ment upon  which  he  relied  to  obtain  fire.  When  it  was  nearly 
vertical  he  went  down  to  the  well,  opened  his  watch-case,  and 
dipped  the  glass  carefully  into  the  water.  He  thought  of  trying 
to  take  it  out  of  the  case,  but  the  risk  of  breaking  it  would 
have  been  too  great.  Carrying  it  very  carefully,  he  went  up 
to  the  tent  again  and  sat  down  beside  his  little  heap  of  crumbled 
wood  and  held  the  watch-glass  full  of  water  over  it. 

As  he  expected,  he  found  that  it  made  an  admirable  burning- 
glass,  its  only  drawback  being  that  it  was  only  available  when 
the  sun  was  overhead.  Almost  instantaneously  as  the  focus 
fell  upon  the  wood  the  latter  began  to  smoke,  and  in  less  than 
a  minute  a  flame  sprang  up.  Some  small  splinters  that  he  had 
got  ready  were  placed  on  it,  and  in  a  very  short  time  a  fire  was 
blazing.  As  soon  as  the  wood  was  well  alight  he  had  poured 
off  the  water  and  very  carefully  wiped  the  glass  and  the  rim 
that  held  it.  He  went  a  short  distance  away  as  soon  as  the 
fire  was  burning  well,  and  was  pleased  to  find  that  no  smoke 
was  given  off,  the  sun  having  dried  the  wreckage  until  not  the 
slightest  particle  of  moisture  remained  in  it.  He  now  kept  a 
sharp  look-out  along  the  shore,  but  it  was  not  until  nearly  five 
o'clock  that  he  saw  his  companions  issue  from  the  trees  a  mile 
and  a  half  away  and  move  along  the  sand.  He  went  down  to 
the  well,  took  out  the  meat,  and  brought  it  up  and  laid  it  on 
the  rock  to  dry.  He  felt  sure  that  by  this  time  the  water 
would  have  removed  the  greater  portion  of  the  salt,  and  that 
he  would  now  be  able  to  roast  it  satisfactorily. 


HOME  113 

He  had  already  got  two  forked  twigs  as  a  support  for  his 
spit,  and,  taking  the  ramrod  from  the  gun,  thrust  it  through 
the  meat.  He  had  ceased  putting  on  fresh  wood  the  moment 
he  saw  the  others  come  from  the  forest.  The  fire  soon  sank 
down  to  a  mass  of  glowing  embers,  over  which  he  put  the 
meat,  the  ends  of  the  ramrod  being  supported  by  the  forked 
twigs.  He  turned  it  round  and  round  occasionally  to  prevent 
it  from  burning,  and  although  he  had  himself  been  indifferent 
as  to  whether  they  could  obtain  means  for  cooking  the  junk, 
he  felt  a  ravenous  appetite  as  the  odour  of  the  meat  rose. 
Just  as  he  came  to  the  conclusion  that  the  meat  must  be 
cooked  through,  Wilcox  and  Joyce  arrived.  They  stopped  in 
amazement  as  their  eyes  fell  on  the  fire. 

"  Come  on,  Wilcox,"  Stephen  said  with  a  laugh.  "  Don't 
stand  staring  there.  Dinner  is  ready,  and  I  am  only  waiting 
for  you  to  begin." 

"  I  am  downright  famished,"  the  sailor  said  as  he  came  up. 
"  I  would  not  have  believed  it  if  I  had  not  seen  it.  How  on 
earth  did  you  manage  it  ?  " 

"  Not  by  rubbing  pieces  of  wood  together,  Wilcox,  but  by 
filling  my  watch-glass  with  water  and  using  it  as  a  burning- 
glass  ;  it  lit  the  wood  in  less  than  a  minute ;  only  it  would 
not  do,  you  know,  unless  the  sun  was  right  overhead,  and 
I  had  to  wait  until  twelve  o'clock  before  I  tried  the  experi- 
ment." 

The  meat  was  cut  up  into  three  huge  portions,  and,  using 
biscuits  as  plates  they  speedily  set  to  work  upon  it. 

"You  have  pretty  well  got  rid  of  the  salt,"  Wilcox  said 
after  his  first  mouthful.  "It  is  well-nigh  as  good  as  roast 
meat.  How  did  you  do  that,  sir  ?  " 

"It  was  in  the  well  for  seven  or  eight  hours,"  Stephen 
replied.  "The  water  was  running  through  it,  so  that  it  was 
as  good  as  putting  it  into  a  river.  Salt  meat  is  best  boiled, 


114  WITH    COCHRANE   THE    DAUNTLESS 

but  as  I  had  no  pot  to  boil  it  in,  I  thought  I  would  try  and 
roast  it ;  and,  as  you  say,  the  water  has  got  rid  of  the  salt 
altogether. ' ' 

"It  is  the  best  bit  of  meat  that  I  have  eaten  since  I  left 
England,"  Wilcox  said.  "  Well,  I  don't  mind  now  if  we  stop 
here  for  another  month.  We  have  meat  and  biscuits,  and  I 
reckon,  Mr.  Stephen,  that  you  will  be  able  to  think  of  some 
plan  for  making  flap-jacks  out  of  the  flour,  and  we  have  found 
a  cocoa-nut  grove.  So  we  shall  be  able  to  live  like  kings. ' ' 

The  next  morning  Stephen  was  again  left  in  charge  of  the 
fire,  and  the  other  two  started  to  fetch  a  fresh  load  of  cocoa- 
nuts,  saying  that  they  should  be  back  by  twelve  o'clock,  and 
should  expect  to  find  that  he  had  got  something  new  for  them. 
After  putting  a  piece  of  meat  into  the  well  Stephen  made  a 
fresh  experiment.  Fishing  out  a  great  lump  of  fat  from  the 
cask,  he  first  washed  it  carefully  to  get  rid  of  the  salt,  then 
put  it  into  half  a  cocoa-nut  shell,  placed  this  on  some  hot 
embers  and  fried  the  fat  until  most  of  it  melted,  and  then 
squeezed  the  remainder  between  two  flat  stones.  Then  he 
poured  the  fat  into  another  cocoa-nut  half  full  of  milk,  put 
three  or  four  pounds  of  flour  on  a  flat  rock,  made  a  hollow  in 
the  middle  as  he  had  seen  the  servant  do  at  home  while  mak- 
ing pastry,  poured  the  liquor  gradually  into  this,  mixing  it 
up  with  the  flour  until  he  had  made  the  whole  into  dough. 
Then  he  cleared  away  a  portion  of  the  embers,  and  dividing 
the  dough  into  flat  cakes  placed  these  on  the  hot  ground.  Half 
an  hour  later  he  cleared  another  space  from  embers,  and 
turned  the  cakes  over,  and  in  twenty  minutes  they  were  baked 
through.  They  were  pronounced  excellent  by  his  companions 
as  they  ate  them  with  their  meat. 

"  We  must  not  be  too  lavish,"  Stephen  said,  "  as  we  do  not 
know  how  long  we  may  have  to  wait  here.  I  propose  for  break- 
fast that  we  have  biscuits  only,  then  for  dinner  we  will  have 


HOME  115 

some  meat  and  biscuits  again,  and  for  supper  cold  meat  and 
cakes.     How  much  meat  do  you  think  there  is,  Wilcox  ?  ' ' 

"  There  is  supposed  to  be  a  hundred  and  a  half  in  that  cask, 
Mr.  Embleton." 

"  Well,  that  will  last  us  just  about  a  month,"  Stephen  said, 
"at  a  pound  and  a  half  each  a  day.  I  propose  that  we  have 
that  allowance  for  a  fortnight,  and  if  there  are  no  signs  of 
the  ship  by  that  time  we  can  then  reduce  ourselves  to  three- 
quarters  of  a  pound  a  day.  At  that  rate  it  will  last  for  six 
weeks  altogether.  The  flour  and  the  biscuits  would  last  twice 
as  long,  but  we  must  keep  a  good  stock  of  them  on  hand,  so  as 
to  have  a  store  if  we  take  to  the  canoe  again." 

This  proposal  was  agreed  to.  They  had,  however,  been 
there  about  a  week  when  early  one  morning  Joyce  discovered 
a  sail  far  away  on  the  horizon.  In  great  excitement  they 
hurried  down  to  the  canoe,  which  had  been  brought  along  and 
hauled  up  on  the  rocks. 

"  Put  her  into  the  water  to  see  if  the  sun  has  opened  her 
seams. ' ' 

Finding  that  it  had  done  so,  they  rilled  her  and  then  hauled 
here  just  beyond  the  edge  of  the  water.  Then  they  went  up 
to  their  tent  again. 

"There  ain't  much  wind,"  the  sailor  said,  "and  it  will 
die  away  altogether  in  an  hour  or  two.  It  is  no  good  our 
doing  anything  until  we  see  which  way  she  is  heading.  If  it 
is  the  Tiger,  I  reckon  she  is  making  for  this  spot,  and  we  can 
wait  till  the  afternoon  anyhow  before  we  take  to  the  canoe. 
If  it  is  only  a  chance  ship,  and  we  find  she  is  bearing  a 
course  that  brings  her  anywhere  near  us,  we  must  take  to 
the  canoe  at  once.  I  should  say  she  is  a  good  fiVe-and- 
twenty  miles  away,  but  anyhow  we  can  get  out  to  her  before 
the  evening  breeze  springs  up." 

By  nine  o'clock  they  made  out  that  the  ship  was  certainly 


116  WITH    COCHRANE   THE    DAUNTLESS 

heading  in  their  direction.  Then  the  wind  left  her,  and  pres- 
ently they  saw  her  swing  broadside  on  to  them. 

"  She  is  very  like  the  Tiger"  Joyce  said.  "  She  is  just 
about  the  same  size  and  barque-rigged,  but  we  cannot  see  her 
hull." 

"She  is  the  Tiger  sure  enough,"  Wilcox  said.  "Her 
heading  this  way  made  it  pretty  well  certain,  but  I  think  I 
could  swear  to  her  now. ' ' 

"  Well,  I  vote  we  start  for  her  at  once.  What  do  you  say, 
Stephen?" 

"  I  think  so,  Tom.  Certainly  it  will  be  a  long  row  in  the 
heat,  but  that  does  not  matter.  We  had  better  put  a  stock 
of  biscuits  and  cocoa  -  nuts  on  board.  One  never  knows 
about  the  weather  here,  and  before  night  there  might  be 
another  cyclone,  then  she  might  have  to  run  for  it.  We 
should  have  to  make  for  the  nearest  land,  and  might  not  be 
able  to  get  back  here  for  two  or  three  days." 

As  they  had  eaten  their  first  meal  there  was  no  reason  for 
any  delay.  The  canoe  was  emptied  out,  a  store  sufficient 
for  two  or  three  days  put  on  board,  and  they  were  soon  on 
their  way.  They  took  the  bearings  of  the  ship  by  various 
points  of  the  island,  before  they  started,  lest  it  should  come 
over  thick. 

"  It  ain't  no  use  hurrying,"  Wilcox  said  as  they  dipped 
their  paddles  in  the  water.  "  We  have  got  a  good  five  hours' 
pull  before  us,  and  whether  it  is  five  or  seven  it  don't  make 
much  difference." 

They  had  each  cut  a  square  of  canvas  with  which  to  cover 
their  heads  and  shoulders,  and  at  short  intervals  they  dipped 
these  in  the  sea  and  so  kept  off  at  least  a  portion  of  the  ex- 
treme heat.  The  boat  was  much  less  heavily  laden  than  it 
had  been  on  their  previous  journey,  and  went  lightly  through 
the  water.  In  spite  of  their  agreement  to  take  it  easy  their 


HOME  117 

impatience  to  reach  the  ship,  on  whose  upper  sails  their  eyes 
were  fixed  as  they  paddled,  prevented  their  doing  so,  and  for 
the  first  two  hours  they  rowed  at  almost  racing  pace.  Then 
the  heat  of  the  sun  began  to  tell  upon  them,  their  efforts 
slackened,  and  their  pace  decreased  materially.  However, 
they  could  now  make  out  the  line  of  the  hull  above  the 
horizon,  and  knew  that  she  could  not  be  at  most  more  than 
some  eight  miles  away,  and  in  little  more  than  two  hours 
they  were  within  half  a  mile  of  her.  It  was  their  old  ship 
the  Tiger.  By  this  time  they  could  see  that  they  were  ob- 
jects of  eager  curiosity  on  board,  and  presently  they  heard 
loud  cheers  come  across  the  water. 

"  They  have  made  us  out,"  Joyce  said.  "  Of  course,  at 
first  they  took  us  for  a  native  canoe,  for  they  would  be  look- 
ing for  the  gig.  They  don't  know  yet  what  bad  news  we 
have  to  tell  them." 

In  a  few  minutes  they  were  alongside,  but  as  soon  as  they 
were  within  hail  the  captain  had  shouted  out : 

"Are  all  well?" 

"  No,  sir,"  Joyce,  who  was  in  the  bow,  shouted  back,  "  I 
am  sorry  to  say  that  Mr.  Towel  and  the  rest  have  all  been 
killed  by  the  Malays." 

The  news  effectually  damped  the  feeling  of  delight  that  had 
been  excited  on  board  when  it  was  known  that  the  canoe 
contained  three  of  the  boat's  party,  for  whose  safety  the 
greatest  anxiety  had  been  felt,  the  captain  alone  having 
entertained  any  hopes  that  the  gig  could  have  lived  through 
the  storm.  However,  as  they  climbed  up  the  ladder  to  the 
deck  they  were  shaken  warmly  by  the  hand  by  officers  and 
crew,  and  then  the  captain  requested  Joyce  and  Stephen  to 
come  down  to  his  cabin,  while  Wilcox  went  forward  to  tell 
the  story  to  the  crew.  The  first  and  third  mates  also  came 
into  the  cabin.  Joyce  then,  as  the  senior,  told  the  story  of  all 


118  WITH    COCHRANE   THE   DAUNTLESS 

that  had  happened  from  the  time  the  cyclone  had  burst  upon 
them. 

"You  see,  sir,"  he  said  when  he  came  to  the  conclusion, 
"  I  owe  my  life  entirely  to  Stephen  and  Wilcox." 

"I  see  that  plainly  enough,  Mr.  Joyce,"  the  captain  said 
gravely.  "  They  behaved  admirably  both  in  that  and  in  the 
whole  subsequent  proceedings.  You  were  lucky  indeed  in 
hitting  on  the  spot  where  we  were  separated.  We  were  four 
hundred  miles  away  when  we  got  out  of  the  cyclone.  The 
wind  has  been  very  light,  and  we  have  gone  close  to  every 
island  we  have  passed  on  our  way  here.  It  was,  of  course, 
most  doubtful  whether  you  would  be  able  to  find  the  place 
where  the  wreck  was,  for  you  too  might  have  been  carried 
hundreds  of  miles  in  an  entirely  different  direction,  and  with- 
out your  instruments  you  would  have  had  but  a  small  chance 
of  discovering  your  position  or  finding  your  way  here.  Still, 
it  seemed  the  only  chance.  Of  course  I  could  not  tell 
whether  when  you  landed  you  found  the  wreck  had  been 
stripped  by  the  natives;  but  if  you  had  not  done  so  it  seemed 
to  me  you  would  certainly  make  your  way  there  if  you  could, 
for  you  would  know  there  were  no  natives  near,  and  you 
might,  for  all  I  could  tell,  have  found  various  stores  cast  up 
that  would  enable  you  to  live  for  a  long  time. 

"  It  has  been,  as  you  say,  a  sad  business  indeed.  Six  lives 
have  been  lost,  and,  as  it  appears  to  me  from  your  story,  un- 
necessarily; it  was  a  grievous  mistake  going  up  that  river.  I 
can  understand  Mr.  Towel's  anxiety  to  obtain  a  stock  of 
provisions  of  some  sort  to  victual  the  boat  for  a  long  cruise, 
but  he  should  have  endeavoured  to  ascertain  first,  by  follow- 
ing the  bank  on  foot,  whether  there  were  any  native  villages 
there  before  venturing  up  in  the  boat ;  and  to  fire  guns  until 
he  had  ascertained  that  there  were  no  enemy  near,  is  another 
instance  of  that  fatal  carelessness  that  costs  so  many  lives. 


HOME  119 

However,  the  poor  fellow  of  course  acted  for  the  best,  and 
he  has  paid  dearly  for  his  error.  That  expedient  of  yours  for 
lighting  a  fire,  Steve,  was  a  very  ingenious  one,  and  does  you 
a  great  deal  of  credit.  I  don't  think  that  it  would  have  oc- 
curred to  me.  Altogether,  young  gentlemen,  you  seem  to 
have  behaved  extremely  prudently  and  well.  I  am  sorry  to 
tell  you  that  your  comrade  Archer  was  washed  overboard  in 
the  cyclone,  and  two  of  the  men  were  killed  by  being  struck 
by  a  spar  that  got  adrift." 

The  news  of  Archer's  death  greatly  destroyed  the  pleasure 
of  the  lads  at  finding  themselves  safely  on  board  the  Tiger 
again,  and  they  took  up  their  work  with  very  sorrowful  hearts. 

For  another  two  months  the  Tiger  continued  her  cruise 
among  the  islands  without  any  adventure  occurring.  By  the 
end  of  that  time  they  had  disposed  of  their  goods  and  had 
taken  in  a  large  number  of  the  native  productions  in  exchange, 
and  the  ship's  course  was  laid  north  again  for  Calcutta,  where 
they  filled  up  with  Indian  produce  and  then  sailed  for  home. 

Five  months  later  they  arrived  in  the  Thames,  the  only 
bad  weather  they  had  encountered  being  a  storm  as  they  en- 
tered the  Channel.  They  anchored  at  Gravesend,  and  the 
captain  told  Stephen  to  land  and  take  a  post-chaise  up  to 
London,  and  report  to  Mr.  Hewson  that  the  Tiger  would 
come  up  on  the  tide  next  morning.  It  was  eight  o'clock  in 
the  evening  when  Stephen  arrived  at  his  employer's.  Mr. 
Hewson  received  him  with  great  kindness. 

"  I  am  always  very  glad  when  I  hear  that  one  of  my  ships 
is  safe  in  port,"  he  said  ;  "  for  however  great  my  confidence, 
there  are  times  when  human  skill  and  strength  are  of  no  avail. 
I  did  not  expect  that  the  Tiger  would  be  back  for  another 
month  or  so,  and  am  heartily  glad  to  hear  that  she  has  re- 
turned. All  has  gone  well,  I  hope?  " 

"  I  am  sorry  to  say,  sir,  that  we  have  lost  altogether  nine 


120  WITH   COCHRANE   THE   DAUNTLESS 

lives,  including  those  of  Mr.  Towel,  the  second  officer,  and 
Archer,  my  fellow  apprentice." 

"  That  is  bad  indeed,"  Mr.  Hewson  said  in  a  tone  of  great 
concern.  "  How  did  it  happen  ?  " 

Stephen  related  briefly  the  events  that  had  brought  about 
the  misfortunes.  "I  am  sorry  indeed,"  Mr.  Hewson  said 
when  he  had  concluded ;  "  but  it  is  a  consolation  to  me  that 
none  of  the  lives  were  lost  from  any  deficiency  in  the  ship's 
gear  or  appointments.  The  boat  must  have  been  an  excellent 
one  indeed  to  have  carried  you  in  safety  through  a  cyclone,  in 
which,  as  we  know,  the  stoutest  ships  will  sometimes  founder. 
As  to  the  accident  on  board,  it  was  one  of  those  things  that 
too  often  occur  in  a  heavy  gale,  and  that  cannot  be  provided 
against.  Of  course,  I  shall  hear  from  the  captain  all  details 
of  that  affair.  As  to  your  adventure  on  shore,  you  must  give 
me  a  much  fuller  account  when  you  have  had  some  supper. 
I  shall  release  you  at  once  from  duty,  and  you  had  better  go 
down  by  the  coach  to-morrow  morning  to  Dover.  I  know 
that  your  father  is  anxious  to  see  you.  He  wrote  to  me  about 
three  weeks  ago,  asking  me  when  I  expected  the  Tiger  to  be 
home.  I  know  what  his  reason  is,  but  I  think  that  he  would 
wish  to  be  the  first  to  speak  to  you  about  it  himself. ' ' 

"  There  is  nothing  wrong,  sir,  I  hope?  " 

"  No,  lad,  in  no  way.     It  is  another  matter  altogether." 

Supper  was  brought  up,  and  Stephen  did  full  justice  to  it, 
for  the  ship  had  touched  nowhere  on  her  way  home  from  Cal- 
cutta, and  after  feeding  so  long  almost  entirely  on  salt  meat, 
he  thoroughly  enjoyed  the  change  of  fresh  provisions.  The 
next  morning  he  started  by  the  seven  o'clock  coach  for  Dover, 
and  arrived  there  at  eight  that  evening. 

"  You  have  grown  indeed,  Stephen  !  "  his  father  said  after 
the  first  delighted  greetings  were  over.  "  Let  me  think. 
You  have  been  away  nearly  eighteen  months.  That  does 


HOME  121 

make  a  good  deal  of  difference ;  still,  you  have  grown  more 
than  I  should  have  expected.  I  used  to  think  that  you  would 
be  rather  short,  but  now  you  bid  fair  to  be  a  good  average 
height,  and  you  have  widened  out  amazingly.  Where  are 
your  traps,  lad  ?  Have  you  ordered  them  to  be  sent  up  from 
the  coach  office  ?  ' ' 

"  I  have  not  brought  any  down  with  me,  father.  The  Tiger 
only  got  to  Gravesend  at  five  o'clock  yesterday  afternoon,  and 
the  captain  sent  me  up  by  post-chaise  to  tell  Mr.  Hevvson  that 
she  was  in.  I  got  to  his  place  at  eight,  and  he  told  me  that 
I  had  better  start  by  this  morning's  coach,  as  he  knew  that  you 
were  anxious  to  see  me." 

"  He  didn't  tell  you  what  for,  Stephen?  " 

"  No,  sir.  He  said  that  he  thought  that  you  would  prefer 
to  tell  me  yourself. ' ' 

"  Well,  Stephen,  I  have  been  anxiourf  for  you  to  get  home, 
for  I  had  a  letter  from  Lord  Cochrane  about  three  weeks  ago. 
He  told  me  that  he  had  not  forgotten  the  promise  he  had 
made  me,  to  give  you  a  berth  if  he  ever  had  a  chance.  He 
said  that  the  opportunity  had  come  now,  for  that  he  had  been 
offered  the  command  of  the  Chilian  navy,  and  should  be  shortly 
starting — as  soon,  in  fact,  as  he  could  make  his'  arrangements 
and  get  his  house  off  his  hands.  He  said  that  he  thought  it 
would  be  five  or  six  weeks  before  he  was  able  to  sail,  and  that 
he  would  take  you  out  with  him  as  his  flag-midshipman.  Of 
course  I  wrote  to  him  at  once,  saying  where  you  were,  and 
that  you  might  be  home  any  day,  but  that,  on  the  other  hand, 
you  might  not  be  back  for  two  or  three  months.  However,  if 
you  arrived  in  time  I  was  sure  that  you  would  be  delighted  at 
the  chance  of  serving  under  him ;  still  I  said  that  of  course  I 
could  not  ask  him  to  keep  the  berth  open  for  you.  Well,  he 
wrote  in  reply  that  he  would,  at  any  rate,  give  me  a  month, 
but  if  at  the  end  of  that  time  I  had  not  heard  of  you,  he 


122  WITH   COCHRANE   THE   DAUNTLESS 

must  appoint  some  one  else ;  for,  as  he  said,  '  I  know  nothing 
of  the  Chilian  language,  and  of  course  I  shall  want  some  one 
to  blow  up  in  English.'  ' 

Stephen  laughed.  "  That  would  be  splendid,  father.  I 
have  been  very  happy  on  board  the  Tiger,  and  certainly 
should  not  like  to  leave  her  to  sail  on  any  other  trading  ship. 
No  one  could  be  kinder  than  the  captain  and  the  mates  have 
been.  But  of  course  I  should  like  awfully  to  serve  with  Lord 
Cochrane,  especially  as  I  have  heard  so  much  of  him  from 
you.  But  why  have  the  Chilians  appointed  a  foreigner  to 
command  their  fleet  ?  Are  they  fighting  with  anyone  ?  ' ' 

"  They  are  fighting  the  Spanish,  Stephen.  They  have  gone 
into  the  war  to  aid  Peru,  or  rather  to  free  Peru  from  her  op- 
pressors. The  Chilians  have  only  just  started  a  navy  of  their 
own,  and  it  is  altogether  outnumbered  by  the  Spanish  ;  but 
they  wisely  think  that  with  such  a  man  as  Cochrane,  who  is  a 
host  in  himself,  who  has  won  against  much  greater  odds,  they 
will  be  able  to  hold  their  own,  and  I  have  no  doubt  you  will 
have  a  stirring  time.  I  only  wish  that  I  had  been  able  to  go 
with  him.  He  was  good  enough  to  say  so  in  his  letter  to 
me.  That  is  unfortunately  out  of  the  question.  However, 
Stephen,  you  must  choose  for  yourself.  There  is  no  saying 
what  may  come  of  this  business.  You  know  that  Lord 
Cochrane  is  a  hot-headed  man,  and  one  who  does  not  mince 
matters.  The  Chilians,  I  believe,  are  the  brightest  and  most 
energetic  of  any  of  the  South  American  peoples,  but  that,  you 
know,  is  not  saying  a  great  deal.  Cochrane  is  sure  to  be 
maddened  by  delays  and  difficulties  of  all  kinds,  and  if  so  he 
will  certainly  speak  out  in  a  way  that  will  ruffle  their  feelings 
greatly,  and  may  bring  on  trouble. 

"  He  is  what  is  called  an  impracticable  man,  Stephen.  He 
is  himself  the  soul  of  honour  and  generosity,  and  so  is  alto- 
gether unable  to  refrain  from  giving  vent  to  his  indignation  and 


HOME  123 

disgust  when  he  sees  these  qualities  lacking  in  others.  He 
has  ruined  his  own  career  here  by  his  intolerance  of  wrong, 
whether  the  wrong  was  inflicted  upon  himself  or  upon  others. 
He  has  rather  injured  than  benefited  the  cause  of  our  seamen 
by  the  intemperate  zeal  with  which  he  pressed  his  reforms,  and 
by  allying  himself  heart  and  soul  with  the  ultra-radicals.  Such 
a  man  as  he  may  get  on  well  with  a  people  like  the  South 
Americans,  his  dashing  bravery,  his  frankness,  and  his  disre- 
gard of  ceremony  will  render  him  popular  among  the  people 
at  large,  but  will  raise  up  for  him  enemies  innumerable  among 
the  governing  class.  I  cannot,  therefore,  for  a  minute  think 
that  the  present  arrangement  will  be  a  permanent  one.  I  say 
all  this  to  assure  you  that  you  cannot  expect  to  find  a  perma- 
nent career  in  the  service  of  Chili ;  but,  on  the  other  hand, 
you  will  have  the  advantage  of  fighting  under  the  bravest 
officer  of  modern  times. 

"  You  will,  I  have  no  doubt,  take  part  in  some  brilliant  feats. 
And  to  have  served  under  Cochrane  will,  as  long  as  you  live, 
be  a  feather  in  your  cap,  just  as  I  feel  that  it  is  a  great  honour 
for  myself,  although  it  has  been  to  my  pecuniary  disadvantage, 
to  have  done  so.  I  have  exchanged  letters  with  Mr.  Hewson 
on  the  subject.  He  has  behaved  with  the  greatest  kindness 
in  the  matter,  and  agrees  with  me  that  it  would  in  some 
respects  be  a  great  advantage  to  you.  He  has  offered  in  the 
kindest  possible  way  to  allow  your  apprenticeship  to  run  on 
while  you  are  with  Cochrane,  just  as  if  you  were  still  serving 
with  his  own  ships,  and  whenever  you  may  return  to  England 
he  will  reinstate  you  in  his  service,  the  time  you  have  been 
away  counting  just  the  same  as  if  you  had  been  with  him.  I 
expressed  a  doubt  whether  your  apprenticeship  would  count ; 
but  he  said  that  any  master  being,  from  any  circumstances, 
unable  to  teach  a  trade  to  an  apprentice,  as  he  covenanted  to 
do,  could,  with  the  consent  of  that  apprentice,  hand  him  over 


124  WITH    COCHRANE    THE    DAUNTLESS 

to  another  employer ;  and  that  as  you  will  be  learning  the  sea 
as  efficiently  on  the  coast  of  Chili  as  elsewhere,  be  could  loan 
you,  as  it  were,  to  Lord  Cochrane.  Besides,  of  course,  there 
is  no  real  necessity  for  passing  through  an  apprenticeship  in 
order  to  become  an  officer.  Large  numbers  of  men  do,  in 
fact,  become  officers  without  ever  having  been  apprenticed,  as 
it  is  only  necessary  to  serve  so  many  years  at  sea,  and  to  pass 
an  examination.  Still,  there  are  advantages  the  other  way. 
All  ship-owners  prefer  a  man  who  has  -served  an  apprentice- 
ship in  a  good  line  of  ships,  as  he  would  naturally  be  better 
mannered  and  better  educated,  and  therefore  better  fitted  for 
the  position  of  an  officer  in  ships  carrying  passengers.  In  that 
way  it  would  be  as  well  that  you  should  obtain  your  discharge 
at  the  end  of  your  term  of  apprenticeship  from  Mr.  Hewson, 
although  I  have  some  doubts  whether  your  sea-service  under  a 
foreign  flag  would  be  allowed  to  count  by  the  examiners  if  you 
went  up  to  pass  as  a  mate.  Upon  the  other  hand,  lad,  you 
are  now  in  a  good  service,  and  are  certain  to  get  on  if  you  re- 
main in  it ;  and  you  have  less  chance  of  being  shot  than  if 
you  go  with  Cochrane." 

"  I  don't  know  that,  father.  I  can  tell  you  I  have  had  just 
as  close  a  shave  under  Captain  Finder  as  I  could  have  under 
Lord  Cochrane.  Only  three  of  us  out  of  nine  got  through  ; 
the  other  six  were  killed  and  eaten  by  the  Malays ;  and  if  the 
Spaniards  killed  a  man,  at  least  they  will  not  eat  him.  Oh,  I 
should  certainly  like  to  go  with  Lord  Cochrane  !" 

"  I  thought  you  would.  As  far  as  one  can  see  there  is  no 
chance  of  our  being  engaged  in  any  naval  wars  for  many  years 
to  come,  for  all  Europe  is  in  alliance  with  us,  and  is  likely  to 
continue  so;  and  even  if  we  have  trouble  with  any  of  them, 
our  fleet  is  so  overpoweringly  strong  that  even  a  coalition  of 
all  the  other  powers  of  Europe  could  not  stand  against  us  at 
sea.  It  is  a  good  thing  no  doubt  for  the  nation  ;  but  such  a 


HOME  125 

peace  as  this  is  likely  to  be,  gives  no  chance  for  naval  men  to 
distinguish  themselves.  I  must  say  that  I  consider  you  are 
fortunate  indeed  to  have  this  opportunity  of  seeing  some 
service  under  the  man  who,  of  all  others,  is  distinguished  for 
dash  and  bravery.  He  is  the  Lord  Peterborough  of  the  pres- 
ent day." 

"  Who  was  he,  father  ?  " 

11  He  was  a  military  man  in  the  days  of  Queen  Anne.  He 
performed  extraordinary  feats  of  bravery  in  Spain,  and  in  many 
other  respects  his  character  bore  a  strong  resemblance  to  that 
of  Lord  Cochrane.  Well,  Stephen,  we  had  better  lose  no  time, 
and  I  propose  that  we  go  up  to  town  again  to-morrow  morning. 
No  doubt  he  would  like  to  'see  you,  and  there  is  nothing 
like  settling  the  thing  finally ;  and  one  interview  is  worth  a 
dozen  letters.  Let  me  see."  Mr.  Embleton  consulted  the 
sailing-list.  "As  there  is  no  boat  sailing  to-morrow,  we  will 
take  the  coach.  It  would  be  better  anyhow,  for  there  is  never 
any  saying  with  certainty  when  the  packets  will  arrive.  With 
a  strong  southerly  wind  they  may  do  it  in  two  tides,  though 
it  is  only  once  in  a  hundred  times  that  they  manage  it ;  still, 
even  three  tides  would  be  very  fair.  But  we  could  not  risk  the 
chances,  and  it  is  a  duty  to  let  Lord  Cochrane  know  as  early 
as  possible,  as  no  doubt  he  has  many  applications,  and  would 
be  glad  to  be  able  to  say  that  the  matter  was  finally  settled. ' ' 

They  arrived  in  town  the  next  evening  and  called  upon 
Lord  Cochrane  the  first  thing  after  breakfast  next  day.  On 
Mr.  Embleton  sending  in  his  name  he  was  at  once  admitted. 

"  I  am  heartily  glad  to  see  you,  old  friend,"  Lord  Cochrane 
said  as  he  rose  from  the  table,  at  which  he  was  writing.  "  So 
this  is  your  boy  !  His  appearance  saves  me  asking  questions. 
When  did  he  get  back  ?  ' ' 

"  He  arrived  in  town  on  Monday  evening,  came  down  on 
Tuesday  to  Dover,  and  returned  here  with  me  last  night." 


126  WITH    COCHRANE    THE    DAUNTLESS 

"  You  have  indeed  lost  no  time.  Well,  young  sir,  what  do 
you  think  of  going  out  with  me  ?  " 

"  I  should  like  it  above  everything,  my  lord,  and  I  am 
deeply  grateful  to  you  for  offering  me  the  post." 

"It  is  to  your  father,  lad,  that  you  should  be  grateful,  and 
not  to  me,  for  he  earned  it  for  you.  So  you  have  had  eigh- 
teen months  in  the  eastern  seas?  " 

"Yes,  sir." 

"A  very  good  school,  I  should  say,  Embleton;  one  has  to 
keep  one's  eyes  open  there." 

"  Yes  indeed.  He  told  me  on  the  way  up  yesterday  of  an 
adventure  he  had  had  with  the  Malays,  and  as  only  three  out 
of  a  boat  -  load  of  nine  escaped,  it  must  have  been  a  pretty 
sharp  business." 

"If  only  three  escaped  it  must  have  been  sharp  indeed," 
Lord  Cochrane  said,  "and  they  must  have  had  marvellous 
luck  in  getting  out  of  the  Malays'  hands.  He  shall  tell  me  all 
about  it  on  our  voyage  out.  Now,  come  along  with  me." 

He  led  the  way  to  the  dining-room,  where  Lady  Cochrane 
was  sitting,  while  her  two  children,  of  four  and  five  years  old, 
were  playing  about. 

"  My  dear,"  he  said,  "  this  is  Lieutenant  Embleton,  whom 
you  have  heard  me  speak  of  a  score  of  times  as  a  most  gallant 
officer,  and  a  most  ill-used  man.  This  is  his  son,  who  is,  you 
know,  going  out  with  us  as  my  flag  -  midshipman ;  he  has 
been  eighteen  months  in  the  Indian  Archipelago.  And  let 
me  tell  you,  the  Malays  are  much  more  serious  foes  than 
the  Spaniards.  You  know,  youngster,  one  of  the  chief  duties 
of  an  admiral's  midshipman  is  to  make  himself  agreeable  to 
the  admiral's  wife  and  family,  if  there  are  such  incumbrances. 
He  goes  errands  for  her,  attends  her  when  she  goes  shopping, 
is  a  sort  of  head  nurse  to  the  children,  and  in  our  service  he 
is  generally  nicknamed  the  admiral's  poodle.  However,  as 


HOME  127 

soon  as  I  get  out  there,  I  hope  to  find  more  attractive  work 
for  you,  and  until  I  do,  I  am  sure  my  wife  and  the  children 
will  be  glad  they  have  someone  with  them  to  speak  English." 

"  I  shall  be  very  glad  to  be  of  any  service  I  can,"  Stephen 
said  earnestly. 

"I  am  afraid,"  Lady  Cochrane  said  with  a  smile,  "that 
we  shall  have  very  little  opportunity  of  availing  ourselves  of 
your  services.  When  we  once  get  out  there  you  will  be 
carried  off  by  Lord  Cochrane,  and  he  will  never  set  foot  on 
shore  again  unless  when  absolutely  driven  to  it." 

"  Is  your  time  for  sailing  fixed  yet,  Lord  Cochrane?  "  the 
lieutenant  asked. 

"We  shall  sail  on  the  i5th  of  August  from  Boulogne,  so 
that  your  son  will  have  three  weeks  to  make  his  preparations." 

"Three  days  would  be  sufficient,"  Embleton  said,  with  a 
smile.  "  Naval  outfitters  are  not  so  busy  as  they  used  to  be, 
and  would  furnish  an  admiral's  kit,  if  necessary,  in  that  time. 
Is  there  any  particular  uniform,  sir  ?  " 

"  No,  it  is  something  like  our  own ;  and  if  you  rig  him  out 
in  an  ordinary  midshipman's  uniform  that  will  be  good  enough. 
Thank  goodness,  this  weary  waiting  is  over.  It  is  now  four- 
teen months  since  I  accepted  the  offer  of  the  Chilian  govern- 
ment sent  me  by  their  agent,  Don  Jose  Alvarez.  I  was  to 
put  off  my  departure  so  as  to  look  after  the  building  and 
equipment  of  a  war  steamer  for  the  service,  but  there  have 
been  incessant  delays  owing  to  want  of  money.  It  has  been 
enough  to  madden  one ;  and,  after  all,  I  have  to  go  without 
her,  and  we  sail  in  the  Rose.  She  is  one  of  the  sloops  sold  out 
of  the  navy,  and  is  now  a  merchantman.  I  daresay  they  would 
have  kept  me  dawdling  about  here  for  months  to  come  if  it 
hadn't  been  that  they  have  been  getting  the  worst  of  it  out 
there,  and  it  at  length  occurred  to  them  that  the  admiral's 
place  is  in  command  of  his  fleet,  and  not  to  act  as  a  sort  of 


128  WITH    COCHRANE   THE    DAUNTLESS 

foreman  in  looking  after  a  single  ship  being  built.  We  shall 
embark  at  Rye,  but,  of  course,  it  will  be  more  handy  for  you 
to  send  or  bring  him  to  Boulogne.  I  expect  that  we  shall  be 
there  on  the  i3th,  so  as  to  have  time  to  shake  down  before  we 
start.  Your  son  had  better  be  there  on  that  day.  I  will  draw 
up  his  commission  as  my  flag-midshipman  at  once,  and  will 
hand  it  to  you  when  you  dine  with  me,  which  I  trust  you 
and  your  son  will  do  this  evening.  It  is  very  fortunate  that 
I  am  disengaged,  for  just  at  present  I  am  going  through  a 
painful  round  of  farewell  dinners  from  my  political  friends." 

"  I  shall  be  very  glad  to  do  so,  sir,"  Mr.  Embleton  said, 
"  and  will  not  detain  you  farther  now." 

As  soon  as  they  left  Lord  Cochrane  they  went  to  see  Mr. 
Hewson. 

"It  is  all  arranged,  I  suppose?"  the  latter  said  as  they 
entered. 

' '  Yes,  we  have  just  left  Lord  Cochrane ;  but  in  the  first 
place,  Stephen,  who  is  not  much  accustomed  to  return  thanks, 
has  asked  me  to  say  in  his  name  how  extremely  obliged  he  is 
for  your  most  kind  offer  to  allow  him  to  remain  on  the  books 
of  your  fleet. ' ' 

"  Say  no  more  about  it,  Embleton.  I  am  very  pleased  that 
I  can  be  of  any  service  to  you,  and  to  the  lad  also.  Captain 
Finder  has  spoken  most  warmly  to  me  of  his  conduct  during 
the  voyage.  He  behaved  in  all  respects  excellently ;  and 
although,  happily,  the  captain  was  not  laid  up,  and  was  there- 
fore able  to  attend  himself  to  the  details  of  navigation,  he 
says  that  had  he  been  disabled  he  should  have  felt  no  uneasi- 
ness on  that  score,  Stephen's  observations  being  to  the  full  as 
accurate  as  his  own.  He  especially  speaks  of  him  in  tones  of 
commendation  for  his  conduct  in  that  unfortunate  boat  affair. 
Every  credit  is  due  to  the  sailor  Wilcox  who  was  with  him 
through  it ;  but  the  latter  himself  told  the  captain  that  he 


HOME  129 

felt  so  certain  that  all  those  in  the  boat  had  been  killed,  that 
he  should  not  have  undertaken  the  risk  of  going  near  the 
Malay  village  had  it  not  been  for  the  lad's  insisting.  He 
says,  too,  that  although  junior  to  Joyce — the  lad  they  rescued 
— Stephen  was  really  the  leader ;  that  many  of  his  suggestions 
were  most  valuable.  Wilcox  is  particularly  strong  on  the 
manner  in  which  the  lad  contrived  to  kindle  a  fire  by  using 
his  watch  -  glass  filled  with  water  as  a  burning  -  glass.  Alto- 
gether, I  feel  sure  that  your  boy  will  make  an  excellent  officer 
as  he  goes  on,  and  I  am  glad  that  he  will  now  have  the  oppor- 
tunity of  seeing  some  active  service  under  Cochrane. 

"  I  agree  with  what  you  said  in  your  letter,  that  the  berth 
is  by  no  means  likely  to  be  a  permanent  one.  As  soon  as 
Cochrane  has  relieved  them  from  the  state  in  which  they  now 
are,  they  are  sure  to  be  jealous  of  him,  and  he  is  the  last  man 
in  the  world  to  put  up  with  slights,  or  to  hold  on  to  an  ap- 
pointment when  he  sees  that  he  is  no  longer  wanted.  Still, 
it  will  do  the  lad  a  great  deal  of  good  and  make  a  man  of  him, 
and  his  experience  will  put  him  outside  the  general  category 
of  mercantile  sailors.  I  have  got  his  chests  here;  they  were 
sent  up  yesterday.  I  shall,  of  course,  try  and  find  out  who 
was  the  captain  of  that  ship  whose  chronometers  he  bought. 
Captain  Finder  has  told  me  all  about  it,  and  Stephen  is  abso- 
lutely entitled  to  the  money  he  got.  At  the  same  time  his 
offer  to  divide  it  was  a  generous  one,  but  Captain  Finder  and 
the  mates  are  all  dead  against  accepting  it,  and  I  agree  with 
them.  The  money  would  be  a  mere  trifle  all  round,  but  it 
will  be  a  comfortable  little  sum  for  him.  And  it  will,  I  am 
sure,  be  a  satisfaction  to  him  to  be  able  to  purchase  his  outfit 
now  without  trenching  on  your  purse,  especially  as,  going  out 
as  Cochrane's  own  midshipman,  he  must  take  a  much  larger 
outfit  than  usual,  as  he  will,  of  course,  have  to  accompany  the 
admiral  on  all  public  occasions.  Now,  I  suppose  he  will 


130  WITH    COCHRANE    THE    DAUNTLESS 

like  to  go  down  to  the  dock  and  say  good-bye  to  them  there. 
The  Tiger  began  unloading  yesterday,  and  a  good  many  of 
the  hands  will  be  paid  off  to-morrow." 

Captain  Finder  and  the  first  and  third  officers  expressed 
their  sincere  regret  that  Stephen  was  not  going  to  sail  with 
them  on  the  next  voyage,  and  Joyce  was  greatly  cut  up 
about  it. 

"  I  wanted  you  to  go  down  with  me  to  stay  with  my  father 
and  mother  near  Oxford,"  he  said.  "  I  wrote  to  them  from 
Gravesend  and  I  had  a  letter  this  morning,  in  which  they 
told  me  to  make  you  promise  to  come  down  before  we  sailed 
again." 

"I  may  be  back  again  in  a  year,"  Stephen  replied,  "and 
if  I  am  I  think  Mr.  Hewson  will  appoint  me  to  the  Tiger 
again." 

The  captain  undertook  to  dispose  of  Stephen's  collection  of 
curios  and  bird  skins  for  him,  and  also,  if  no  news  was  ob- 
tained as  to  the  lost  ship,  he  would,  when  he  sailed  again, 
hand  the  chronometers  and  quadrants  over  to  Mr.  Hewson  to 
keep  for  him. 

Mr.  Hewson  that  evening  again  talked  over  the  question  of 
the  bag  of  money  with  Lieutenant  Embleton,  and  convinced 
the  latter  that  Stephen  was  entitled  to  keep  the  money,  to 
which  his  right  was,  he  declared,  unquestionable.  Stephen's 
father  was  of  the  same  opinion  himself,  and  argued  the  ques- 
tion only  because  he  felt  that  the  fact  that  the  money  was 
really  extremely  useful  at  the  present  time,  might  render  him 
unable  to  judge  the  matter  fairly.  He  really  had  no  answer 
to  the  reasons  given  by  his  friend,  who,  he  was  well  assured, 
would  not  urge  the  matter  upon  him  did  he  not  feel  that 
Stephen  was  really  entitled  to  keep  the  money,  which  had 
entirely  and  absolutely  passed  out  of  the  possession  of  its 
former  owners,  whoever  they  were. 


COCHRANE'S  CAREER  131 

"I  never  heard,"  he  said,  "  that  anyone  who  was  lucky 
enough  to  recover  treasure  in  an  old  wreck  had  his  right  to 
retain  it  questioned,  and  here  not  even  the  wreck  remained. 
So  we  will  keep  it  and  spend  it,  Hewson  ;  but  if  you  ever 
discover  the  owners  of  that  ship  let  me  know,  and  I  shall  be 
prepared  to  discuss  the  question  with  them." 

''We  shall  never  discover  them,  my  good  sir,"  Hewson 
said.  "  How  can  any  man  in  the  world  say  that  that  money 
belongs  to  a  ship  that  has  disappeared  in  the  Malay  Archi- 
pelago? The  only  possible  clue  is  that  afforded  by  the 
chronometers,  and  here  again  it  is  unlikely  in  the  extreme 
that  the  owners  of  the  ship,  that  has,  perhaps,  been  sailing 
the  seas  for  thirty  or  forty  years,  would  be  able  to  swear  to 
her  chronometers.  Lastly,  there  is  no  shadow  of  proof  that 
the  chest  in  which  the  money  was  found  came  from  the  same 
ship  as  the  chronometers ;  they  may  be  the  proceeds  of  two 
different  acts  of  piracy.  You  will  never  hear  anything  about 
it." 


CHAPTER  VII 

COCHRANE'S   CAREER 

"  \7OU  promised,  father,"  Stephen  said  one  evening,  "  that 
I      you  would,  some  time  or  other,  tell  me  more  about  the 
days  when  you  served  with  Lord  Cochrane." 

"•Well,  lad,  I  will  tell  you  now.  The  first  time  I  ever  saw 
him  was  on  the  day  when  he  joined  the  Hind  at  Sheerness,  in 
June,  1793.  I  was  a  young  midshipman  on  board  her,  and  I 
can  tell  you  we  were  all  astonished  at  his  appearance,  for  he 
was  between  seventeen  and  eighteen  —  a  tall,  gawky  fellow. 
I  believe  he  had  had  a  commission  in  the  army,  but  that  his 
taste  lay  altogether  in  the  direction  of  the  sea,  and  that  he 


132  WITH    COCHRANE   THE    DAUNTLESS 

obtained  his  appointment  to  us  by  the  influence  of  his  uncle, 
who  was  a  post-captain  at  the  time.  Well,  you  know  we  gen- 
erally entered  at  the  age  of  fourteen,  and  you  may  imagine 
our  surprise  and  amusement  at  a  fellow  arriving  to  begin,  who 
was  as  old  as  the  senior  mid  on  board.  Lord  though  he  was, 
there  was  no  nonsense  about  Cochrane.  He  was  a  very  pleas- 
ant fellow,  and  I  never  saw  anyone  work  so  hard  to  learn  his 
profession  as  he  did.  He  actually  satisfied  even  our  first  lieu- 
tenant, who  was  a  rough,  hard-working  fellow,  who  had  made 
his  way  up  after  having  got  his  promotion  from  the  main- 
deck,  or  having,  as  we  used  to  call  it,  come  in  at  the  hawse- 
holes. 

"  He  was  an  admirable  seaman,  heart  and  soul  in  his  work, 
and  ready  to  take  off  his  coat  and  put  on  a  suit  of  slops  and 
work  himself.  He  took  rather  a  dislike  at  first  to  Cochrane, 
first  because  he  was  a  lord,  in  the  second  place,  because  he 
considered  that  he  had  taken  to  the  profession  too  old  to 
learn,  and  lastly  because  be  brought  a  chest  on  board  alto- 
gether beyond  regulation  size.  Jack  Larmour  soon  made 
short  work  of  that.  He  called  up  the  carpenters,  and  bade 
them  saw  a  portion  off  the  chest,  cutting  it  through  just  on 
one  side  of  the  keyhole,  so  that  the  lock  was  now  in  the  cor- 
ner. Cochrane  only  laughed  and  said  nothing,  but  I  have  no 
doubt  the  lieutenant  expected  him  to  say  something  hasty  and 
so  get  himself  into  trouble.  However,  Jack  soon  changed 
his  opinion  of  the  new  mid.  The  earnest  desire  of  Cochrane 
to  learn,  and  his  willingness  to  put  on  a  rough  suit  and  work, 
showed  that  he  was  of  the  right  stuff,  and  made  him  at  last  a 
prime  favourite  of  the  first  lieutenant's. 

"  I  was  only  with  him  then  a  couple  of  months,  for  I  was 
transferred  to  another  ship,  and  did  not  come  across  him  again 
until  he  was  appointed  by  Lord  Keith  to  the  command  of  the 
Speedy,  lying  at  Port  Mahon.  He  had  done  a  good  deal  of 


COCHRANE'S  CAREER  133 

knocking  about  by  that  time,  for  the  Hind  was  sent  out  to 
the  coast  of  Norway,  where  it  was  suspected  that  French  pri- 
vateers used  the  fiords  as  hiding-places.  On  the  return  of  the 
Hind  from  Norway,  Cochrane's  uncle  was  appointed  to  the 
Thetis,  and  the  Hind's  crew  were  transferred  to  her.  The 
Thetis  went  out  with  a  squadron  for  the  protection  of  the 
islands  of  Nova  Scotia,  and  so  well  was  Cochrane  thought  of 
that  in  January,  1795,  he  was  appointed  by  the  admiral  of 
the  station  acting  third  lieutenant  of  the  Thetis,  and  was  soon 
after  transferred,  with  the  same  rank,  to  the  Africa  ;  and  in 
July  was  confirmed  in  his  rank,  though  he  had  been  but  two 
years  at  sea.  In  the  Africa  he  coasted  up  and  down,  be- 
tween Canada  and  Florida,  looking  out  for  ships  of  the 
enemy,  but  in  the  following  January  he  rejoined  the  Thetis, 
whose  first  lieutenant  had  just  been  promoted.  He  then 
passed  as  lieutenant,  and  was  afterwards  appointed  to  the 
Speedy. 

"  The  difficulty  of  his  not  having  served  the  regulation 
time  had  been  got  over  by  his  uncle  in  a  way  which  was  not 
uncommon  then,  and  may  be  still  practised  for  aught  I  know. 
His  uncle  thought  that  he  might  one  day  wish  to  join  the 
navy,  and  had  therefore  entered  his  name  in  the  books  of  the 
various  ships  he  commanded,  so  that  nominally  he  had 
formed  part  of  the  ship's  complement  in  the  Vesuvius,  Caro- 
lina, La  Sophie,  and  Hind,  and  had  therefore  belonged  to 
the  service  for  the  regulation  period.  It  is  a  bad  practice, 
lad,  but  in  the  case  of  Cochrane  was  the  means  of  providing 
the  king's  navy  with  as  gallant  an  officer  as  ever  trod  quarter- 
deck. I  went  down  with  him  from  Gibraltar  to  Port  Mahon 
with  another  midshipman  who,  like  myself,  had  just  passed, 
and  was  to  join  the  Speedy.  We  were  hoping  to  gain  an  op- 
portunity for  distinguishing  ourselves,  and  getting  a  step. 

"  Our  first  sight  of  the  craft  was  a  grievous  disappointment. 


134  WITH    COCHRANE   THE    DAUNTLESS 

She  was  a  brig  of  158  tons,  and  as  she  carried  eighty-four 
men  and  six  officers,  you  may  imagine  how  we  were  crowded 
on  board.  Her  armament  consisted  of  fourteen  four-pound- 
ers, ridiculous  little  weapons  that  were  no  more  good  than  as 
many  blunderbusses.  I  remember  Cochrane  putting  fourteen 
balls  into  his  pockets,  and  walking  up  and  down  the  quarter- 
deck, saying  that  he  was  probably  the  only  commander  who 
had  ever  carried  a  whole  ship's  broadsides  in  his  pockets. 

"  He  was  awfully  disgusted,  as  you  may  imagine,  with  his 
craft,  and  he  applied  for  two  twelve  pounders,  to  be  used  for 
stern-chasers.  When  he  got  them  on  board  he  found  that 
there  was  not  room  for  them  to  be  worked.  He  had  them 
fired  off  a  few  times,  but  the  brig  was  so  weakly  built  that 
the  timbers  would  not  stand  the  concussion.  He  was  there- 
fore obliged  to  send  them  on  shore  again.  There  was  only  a 
height  of  five  feet  even  in  the  captain's  cabin,  and  I  remem- 
ber that  Cochrane  used  to  open  the  skylight  and  put  his  head 
up  through  it  in  order  to  shave  himself,  placing  the  soap-dish 
in  front  of  him  on  the  quarter-deck.  However,  we  were  a 
pleasant  party  on  board.  Cochrane  was  strict  in  the  per- 
formance of  duty,  but  an  excellent  fellow  to  sail  with,  anx- 
ious for  the  comfort  of  men  and  officers,  and  without  a  shadow 
of  nonsense  about  him.  His  first  lieutenant  had  served  for  a 
few  months  in  that  rank,  Rogers  and  I  were  acting-lieuten- 
ants, and  there  was  a  doctor,  and  one  midshipman,  Lord 
Cochrane's  brother.  Lord  Cochrane  at  that  time  was  twenty- 
four,  or  nearly  so,  his  first  lieutenant  was  a  year  older,  Rogers 
and  I  twenty-one. 

' '  We  had  a  busy  time  on  board  the  Speedy.  We  were 
continually  up  and  down  the  coast,  popping  into  quiet  creeks 
and  little  ports  in  search  of  French  privateers,  and  overhaul- 
ing merchantmen,  besides  bearing  what  share  we  could  in  the 
general  operations. 


COCHRANE'S  CAREER  135 

' '  Our  first  prize  was  a  French  privateer  of  six  guns  and 
forty-eight  men.  We  had  been  ordered  to  convoy  fourteen 
merchantmen  from  Cagliari  to  Leghorn,  and  saw  a  strange 
craft  take  possession  of  a  Danish  brig  under  our  escort.  We 
crowded  on  every  inch  of  canvas,  and  set  off  in  pursuit.  The 
Speedy  was  not  misnamed.  Whatever  her  defects,  she  was  cer- 
tainly fast,  and  Cochrane  had  managed  to  add  to  the  canvas 
she  carried  when  he  first  took  the  command.  The  main 
boom  was  sprung,  and  he  obtained  from  the  dockyard  another 
spar  to  replace  it.  This,  however,  was  a  good  deal  longer 
than  the  original,  and  the  dockyard  authorities  decided  that 
it  must  be  taken  down  considerably.  Instead  of  doing  this 
Cochrane  had  about  an  inch  cut  off  from  each  end,  and  had 
the  spar  replaced  and  hoisted.  When  the  dockyard  people 
came  on  board  they  did  not  notice  that  its  length  was  un- 
altered, and  as  soon  as  we  got  out  some  more  cloths  of  canvas 
were  added  to  the  mainsail,  and  we  were  thus  enabled  to 
carry  a  considerable  spread  of  canvas  for  so  small  a  craft. 
We  soon  overtook  the  prize,  which  surrendered  at  once,  and 
then  set  off  in  chase  of  the  privateer,  which  we  overhauled, 
the  sight  of  our  long  row  of  port-holes  and  crowded  decks  no 
doubt  leading  the  Frenchmen  to  suppose  we  were  a  great  deal 
stronger  than  he  was,  though  in  point  of  fact  his  six  guns  car- 
ried a  much  heavier  weight  of  metal  than  our  fourteen  pop- 
guns together. 

"  Four  days  later  five  armed  boats  rowed  out  from  Monte 
Cristo  towards  the  convoy,  which  was  lying  becalmed.  The 
brig  got  out  sweeps  to  endeavour  to  interpose  between  them 
and  her  charges.  Two  vessels,  however,  which  were  lagging 
behind  the  others  were  boarded  and  captured.  To  our  de- 
light we  soon  afterwards  saw  a  dark  line  on  the  water,  and, 
directly  it  reached  us,  set  off  in  pursuit  of  the  captured  mer- 
chantmen, which  were  headed  towards  Monte  Cristo.  The 


136  WITH    COCHRANE   THE    DAUNTLESS 

breeze  soon  freshened,  and  we  presently  overhauled  and  re- 
captured them,  and  then  set  off  in  pursuit  of  the  armed  boats. 
These,  however,  reached  the  shelter  of  the  shore  battery 
before  we  could  overtake  them;  as  our  duty  was  to  protect 
the  convoy  and  not  to  cut  out  prizes,  we  hauled  our  wind  and 
followed  our  charges,  and  a  week  later  arrived  with  them  all 
safely  in  Leghorn  roads,  and  started  to  join  Lord  Keith's 
squadron  off  Genoa,  which  he  was  blockading  at  sea  while  the 
Austrians  beleaguered  it  on  the  land  side.  Here  we  cruised 
outside  the  town  for  a  few  days ;  then  Massena  surrendered, 
and  the  Speedy  was  ordered  to  cruise  off  the  Spanish  coast. 

' '  On  our  way  we  captured  a  native  craft  off  Elba,  and  a 
Sardinian  vessel  laden  with  oil  and  wool,  which  was  a  prize  to 
a  French  privateer.  We  towed  her  into  Leghorn,  and  again 
started,  and  captured  the  next  day  a  Spanish  privateer  of  ten 
guns  and  thirty-three  men.  Five  gun-boats  came  out  from 
Bastia  in  chase,  but  we  took  the  prize  in  tow,  and  kept  up  a 
running  fire  with  the  gun-boats  until,  after  chasing  us  for  some 
hours,  they  gave  it  up.  We  took  several  other  prizes,  and 
sunk  a  privateer  lying  under  shelter  of  a  battery.  We  again 
took  our  prizes  back  into  Leghorn,  indeed  it  seemed  that  we 
were  never  to  get  away  from  that  place,  for,  starting  again,  we 
captured  a  French  privateer,  and  then  fell  in  with  the  frigates 
Mutine  and  Salamine,  which. handed  over  to  us  a  number  of 
French  prisoners  that  they  had  taken,  and  we  had  to  carry 
them  and  our  prize  back  to  Leghorn.  At  last  we  got  fairly 
away,  and  reached  Port  Mahon,  capturing  a  Neapolitan 
vessel  with  a  French  prize  crew  on  board. 

"  As  far  as  I  can  remember  nothing  particular  happened  for 
the  next  three  months,  except  that  we  got  damaged  in  a  storm 
and  were  six  weeks  refitting  at  Port  Mahon.  Three  days 
after  leaving  the  port  we  were  off  Majorca.  There  were  several 
strange  craft  in  sight ;  we  picked  out  the  largest  and  started  in 


COCHRANE'S  CAREER  137 

chase,  when  a  French  craft  came  out,  and  we  altered  our 
course  to  meet  her.  After  exchanging  fire  with  us  for  some 
time  she  drew  off,  but  got  too  close  inshore  and  drove  on  the 
rocks.  As  it  was  evident  that  she  would  become  a  wreck,  we 
left  her  and  captured  one  of  the  other  ships. 

"  The  activity  of  the  Speedy  caused  the  Spanish  authorities 
to  make  special  efforts  to  capture  her,  and  she  once  nearly  fell 
into  the  hands  of  a  Spanish  frigate,  which  had  been  painted  as 
a  merchantman.  However,  she  opened  her  ports  too  soon ;  and 
fortunately  we  were  prepared  for  the  situation.  Cochrane  had 
had  our  craft  painted  in  imitation  of  a  Danish  brig,  which  was 
trading  on  the  coast,  and  whose  appearance  was  familiar  to  the 
Spanish  authorities,  and  a  Danish  quartermaster  had  been 
shipped  to  answer  inconvenient  questions. 

' '  Directly  we  discovered  the  real  nature  of  the  supposed 
merchant  ship,  by  her  opening  her  ports,  we  ran  up  Danish 
colours,  and  on  the  ship's  name  being  demanded  gave  that  of 
the  Danish  brig.  The  Spaniard,  however,  was  not  quite  satisfied, 
and  lowered  a  boat,  whereupon  we  ran  up  the  quarantine  flag, 
and  the  Danish  quartermaster,  on  the  boat  coming  within  hail 
and  then  stopping  at  a  prudent  distance,  informed  them  that 
he  had  come  from  the  African  coast,  where  the  plague  was  at 
that  time  raging.  The  boat  pulled  off  to  the  frigate,  which  at 
once  made  sail  and  left  us  in  solitude.  It  was  a  narrow  escape, 
though  possibly  we  might  have  made  as  good  a  fight  of  it  as 
we  did  afterwards. 

"  Cruising  about  we  took  a  considerable  number  of  prizes. 
Our  luck,  indeed,  was  extraordinary,  and  we  all  anticipated 
that  the  prize-money  would  amount  to  a  large  sum.  It  was  on 
the  4th  of  May  that  our  first  serious  adventure  began.  We 
had  captured  some  prizes  off  Barcelona,  and  a  swarm  of  gun- 
boats came  out  to  try  to  retake  them.  However,  we  kept  them 
at  bay  until  the  prizes  had  got  off,  and  the  following  night 


138  WITH    COCHRANE    THE    DAUNTLESS 

returned  to  our  station  off  the  town.  We  found  that  there 
was  a  strict  watch  being  kept  ashore,  for  the  gun-boats  at  once 
came  out,  but  when  we  sailed  towards  them  they  made  for  the 
shore,  keeping  up  a  fire  at  us  as  they  retired. 

"  Again  we  drew  off  and  again  they  came  out,  and  twice 
during  the  day  they  did  the  same,  always  returning  when  we 
sailed  in  to  meet  them.  Their  fire  was  exceedingly  accurate, 
and  after  each  skirmish  with  them  we  had  to  draw  off  and 
repair  damages.  It  seemed  to  us  that  there  must  be  some 
object  in  the  gun-boat's  action,  and  that  they  were  trying  to 
decoy  us  to  go  close  inshore,  where  some  larger  ship  might  be 
ready  to  come  out  against  us.  Just  before  daybreak  on  the 
6th  we  again  ran  in  towards  Barcelona.  As  we  did  so  we  saw 
a  large  ship  creeping  along  under  the  land,  as  if  making  for 
the  port.  We  at  once  sailed  to  cut  her  off,  when,  instead  of 
trying  to  avoid  us,  she  changed  her  course  and  sailed  towards 
us,  and  we  saw  that  she  was  a  Spanish  frigate.  Two  or  three 
of  our  fellows  had  expressed  an  opinion  that  had  we  attacked 
the  Spaniard  under  whose  guns  we  had  run  three  months 
before,  we  might  have  taken  her.  Lord  Cochrane,  as  soon  as 
she  was  made  out  to  be  a  frigate,  said  to  them  : 

"  '  You  shall  now  have  a  fair  fight,  gentlemen  ;'  and  ordered 
the  boatswain  to  pipe  all  hands  for  action. 

"I  tell  you,  lad,  it  seemed  to  me  that  our  chances  were  slight 
indeed,  for  nearly  half  our  men  and  two  of  the  officers  were 
away  in  prizes,  and,  including  officers  and  boys,  we  had  but 
fifty-four  men  on  board,  so  it  was  probable  that  the  enemy 
had  five  or  six  times  that  number,  while  he  had  thirty-four 
guns  to  our  fourteen  miserable  little  pieces.  I  thought  it 
certain  we  should  be  blown  out  of  the  water,  and  I  fancy 
everyone  else  thought  the  same.  However,  we  held  on  straight 
towards  her.  She  fired  a  gun  and  hoisted  Spanish  colours. 
At  that  time  we  were  almost  abreast  of  her,  and  Cochrane, 


COCHRANE'S  CAREER  139 

who  had  the  American  colours  ready,  ordered  them  to  be  run 
up.  This  gave  us  time  to  get  on  to  the  other  tack,  and  hold 
on  till  a  little  out  of  her  direct  line  of  fire.  Then  we  at  once 
pulled  down  the  stars  and  stripes  and  hoisted  the  British 
ensign.  The  Spaniard  fired  a  broadside,  to  which  we  made 
no  reply.  Our  guns  were  trebly  shotted,  but  Cochrane  had 
given  orders  that  not  a  shot  was  to  be  fired  until  we  were 
alongside  the  Spaniard,  as  our  fire  would  do  no  damage  what- 
ever to  the  ship.  As  we  headed  for  her  they  fired  another 
broadside,  but,  like  the  first,  this  did  us  no  harm,  and  round- 
ing up  under  her  stern  Cochrane  ran  us  alongside. 

"Our  yards  became  locked  in  the  Spaniard's  rigging,  and 
we  then  poured  in  our  broadside,  which  at  this  distance  did 
considerable  damage  on  her  main  deck,  the  first  discharge 
having,  as  we  afterwards  learned,  killed  the  Spanish  captain 
and  boatswain.  Our  guns  had  been  elevated  to  their  full 
extent,  for  of  course  she  towered  high  above  us.  While  our 
shot  struck  up  through  her  main -deck,  the  Spanish  guns  roared 
overhead,  cutting  up  our  rigging,  but  doing  us  no  harm  what- 
ever below,  while  our  fire  continued  to  work  havoc  among 
them.  We  heard  the  order  shouted  to  board,  but  were  pre- 
pared for  this,  and  at  once  pushed  off  far  enough  to  prevent 
them  from  leaping  on  to  our  deck,  while  the  men  caught  up 
the  muskets  that  had  been  ranged  in  readiness  against  the 
bulwark,  and  poured  a  volley  into  them  as  they  appeared  at 
the  side  in  readiness  to  jump  down.  Then  we  gave  them 
another  broadside,  and  closed  up  again.  Twice  again  they 
attempted  to  board,  but  each  time  failed,  and  the  fight  went  on. 

"  Our  fellows  were  thoroughly  excited,  and  ready  for  any- 
thing, but  it  was  clear  that  the  present  state  of  affairs  could 
not  last  much  longer.  Our  rigging  and  sails  were  cut  to  pieces, 
and  the  masts  might  at  any  moment  go,  and  the  frigate  would 
then  only  have  to  cut  herself  free,  draw  off  a  short  distance, 


140  WITH    COCHRANE   THE    DAUNTLESS 

and  sink  us.  Cochrane,  who  was  as  cool  as  a  cucumber,  went 
along  among  the  men  at  their  quarters,  and  told  them  that 
they  had  either  got  to  take  the  frigate  or  be  taken  themselves, 
in  which  case  they  would  probably  get  no  quarter,  as  the 
Spaniards  would  be  maddened  at  the  loss  they  had  suffered 
from  so  insignificant  a  foe.  '  It  needs,'  he  said,  '  but  a  few 
minutes'  hard  fighting  to  settle  the  matter.'  All  replied  that 
they  were  ready.  Cochrane  was  always  up  to  fun,  and  he 
called  a  portion  of  the  crew  away  from  the  guns,  and  told 
them  to  damp  some  powder  and  blacken  their  faces.  You 
never  saw  such  figures  as  they  were  when  they  came  up. 
Cochrane  ordered  them  to  board  at  the  enemy's  bow,  while 
the  rest  of  the  crew  were  to  board  by  the  waist. 

"  Guthrie,  the  doctor,  volunteered  to  take  the  helm,  and 
when  Cochrane  gave  the  order  the  rest  of  us,  men  and  boys, 
sprang  on  to  the  deck  of  the  Spaniard.  Through  the  wreaths 
of  smoke  they  had  caught  sight  of  our  preparations,  and,  be- 
lieving that  we  intended  to  board  by  the  bow,  the  greater 
portion  of  their  crew  were  gathered  there.  The  appearance 
of  our  fellows'  faces  as  they  emerged  from  the  smoke  and 
leapt  upon  the  deck,  and  with  loud  shouts  rushed  at  them, 
struck  them  with  astonishment.  I  was  with  this  party,  and, 
excited  as  I  was,  could  scarcely  refrain  from  bursting  out 
laughing  at  their  dismay.  Our  men  certainly  were  enough  to 
surprise  anyone.  Bathed  in  sweat,  worked  up  to  a  pitch  of 
wild  excitement,  naked  to  the  waist,  with  their  faces  and 
bodies  streaked  with  the  powder,  one  could  understand  that 
the  superstitious  Spaniards,  already  depressed  by  their  vain 
efforts  to  overpower  so  puny  an  assailant,  thought  that  they 
were  attacked  by  foes  straight  from  the  infernal  regions.  As 
they  stood  hesitating  and  aghast,  we  went  at  them,  while 
Cochrane,  with  the  force  that  had  boarded  at  the  waist,  fell 
upon  them  in  rear. 


COCHRANE'S  CAREER  141 

"  Recovering  themselves,  the  Spaniards  made  a  rush  to  the 
waist,  defending  themselves  stoutly,  and  for  a  while  it  seemed 
as  if  their  numbers  must  in  the  end  prevail.  The  Spanish 
colours  were  still  flying  at  her  peak,  and  Cochrane,  observing 
them,  told  one  of  the  sailors  to  make  his  way  aft  and  haul 
them  down.  As  soon  as  the  Spaniards  saw  their  flag  dis- 
appear, they  thought  that  the  officers  must  have  surrendered, 
and  at  once  threw  down  their  arms.  Without  giving  them 
time  to  think,  or  for  their  officers  to  rally  them,  they  were 
hurried  down  into  the  hold,  and  cannon  were  run  round, 
loaded  with  grape,  and  pointed  down  the  hatchways  in  case 
they  should  make  an  effort  to  retake  the  ship.  As  for  us,  we 
could  hardly  believe  in  our  good  luck.  The  fight  had  lasted 
an  hour  and  a  half,  and  our  loss  had  been  exceedingly  small. 
Our  first  lieutenant,  Parker,  had  been  severely  wounded  in 
several  places,  three  sailors  were  killed,  and  seventeen 
wounded.  We  found  that  our  prize  was  the  Gamo  frigate, 
with  a  crew  of  three  hundred  and  nineteen  men,  mounting 
thirty-two  guns,  firing  a  broadside  weight  of  one  hundred  and 
ninety  pounds,  while  we  had  only  fourteen  small  guns. 

"  She  was  between  six  and  seven  hundred  tons,  and  in  the 
fight  had  lost  her  captain,  boatswain,  and  thirteen  seamen 
killed  and  forty-one  wounded,  her  casualties  thus  exceeding 
the  whole  number  of  our  officers  and  crew.  Even  in  the  an- 
nals of  our  navy  there  is  no  instance  of  so  successful  an  action 
against  such  disproportionate  odds.  We  naturally  congratu- 
lated ourselves  upon  our  fortunes  being  as  good  as  made. 
Cochrane  would,  of  course,  at  once  receive  post-captain's  rank, 
Parker  would  receive  a  step,  and  I  should  get  at  least  a  second 
lieutenantship.  Cochrane's  brother  was  placed  in  command 
of  the  prize,  and  we  sailed  with  him  to  Port  Mahon.  As  I 
have  already  told  you,  the  jealousy  of  Lord  Exmouth  and  the 
hot  temper  of  Cochrane  caused  the  overthrow  of  our  hopes. 


142  WITH    COCHRANE    THE    DAUNTLESS 

Cochrane,  after  three  months'  delay,  obtained  his  post  rank, 
of  which  they  could  not  deprive  him,  as,  having  captured  a 
vessel  of  superior  force,  he  was  entitled  to  it.  They  refused, 
however,  to  promote  Parker,  which  was  simply  scandalous  and 
altogether  in  defiance  of  the  usages  of  the  service,  and  it  was 
sometime  before  I  got  a  berth  again.  However,  after  we  had 
repaired  damages,  matters  went  on  for  a  time  as  before. 

' '  After  taking  some  prizes  we  met  the  Kangaroo,  whose 
captain  was  senior  to  Cochrane,  and  requested  him  to  act  with 
him  in  an  attack  upon  the  fort  of  Almanara,  which  we  silenced, 
and  brought  off  a  Spanish  privateer.  The  two  captains  then 
determined  to  attack  Oropesa,  where  the  forts  were  supported 
by  a  twenty-gun  ship  and  three  gun-boats,  which  had  put  in 
there  with  ten  merchantmen  under  their  convoy.  Cochrane 
had  fitted  out,  at  his  own  expense,  a  Spanish  privateer  of  six 
guns  which  he  had  captured,  as  a  tender  to  the  Speedy,  and 
had  appointed  his  brother  to  command  her ;  and  in  broad 
daylight  the  Kangaroo,  Speedy,  and  tender  sailed  in  to  the  at- 
tack. The  Kangaroo  engaged  the  forts,  while  we  and  young 
Cochrane  directed  our  attention  to  the  war -ship  and  gun- 
boats. It  was  as  hot  an  action  as  any  in  which  I  ever  took 
part.  For  some  hours  the  firing  was  incessant.  At  the  end 
of  that  time  the  Kangaroo 's  fire  was  evidently  telling  on  the 
forts,  while  the  fire  of  our  antagonists  was  slackening. 

"Just  as  we  thought  that  victory  was  assured,  a  twelve-gun 
felucca  and  two  more  gun-boats  arrived  from  Valencia  to  assist 
the  fort.  This  reinforcement  inspired  the  Spaniards  with  fresh 
spirit,  and  their  cannonade  against  us  again  became  very  heavy. 
We  turned  our  attention  entirely  to  the  new-comers,  with  such 
effect  that  we  drove  them  off,  and  then  hammered  away  again 
at  our  old  opponents,  and  had  the  satisfaction  at  last  of  sinking 
all  four  of  them,  while  three  of  the  merchantmen,  which  had 
been  in  the  line  of  fire,  had  also  gone  down.  The  action  had 


COCHRANE'S  CAREER  143 

lasted  nine  hours,  and  both  we  and  the  Kangaroo  had  used  up 
nearly  all  our  ammunition.  The  felucca  and  the  two  gun- 
boats from  Valencia  had  again  come  up,  and  we  had  but  a 
few  shot  left.  We  were  forced  to  put  a  bold  face  on  it ;  ac- 
cordingly, the  Kangaroo  weighed  her  anchor,  stood  in  close  to 
the  fort,  and  again  anchored  as  if  to  pound  it  at  close  quarters, 
while  we  headed  straight  for  the  felucca  and  gun-boats.  Fort- 
unately they  did  not  await  our  coming,  but  turned  tail  and 
returned  to  Valencia. 

"  The  Kangaroo' s  boats  and  ours  were  now  lowered,  and 
made  for  the  remaining  merchantmen.  Four  of  them  cut 
their  cables  and  ran  ashore,  where  they  were  under  the  pro- 
tection of  a  large  body  of  troops  on  the  beach.  We  could 
soon  have  driven  these  off  had  we  had  any  ammunition  left, 
but  as  it  was,  we  were  obliged  to  content  ourselves  with  the 
capture  of  the  other  three  ships.  On  our  return  to  Port 
Mahon,  after  this  really  successful  action,  we  found  to  our 
disgust  that  instead  of  the  Gamo  being  purchased  as  usual  by 
government,  she  had  been  sold  for  a  mere  song  to  the  Alge- 
rines,  thereby  depriving  us  of  the  prize-money  we  had  ex- 
pected to  get  for  her.  Cochrane  was  especially  enraged,  for 
had  the  Gamo  been  purchased,  we  could  have  been  transferred 
to  her  from  the  Speedy,  and  would  have  been  in  a  position  to 
do  very  much  more  than  in  that  wretched  little  craft.  It  was, 
however,  but  a  piece  of  the  treatment  that  we  had  been  re- 
ceiving. The  extraordinary  number  of  prizes  we  had  taken 
excited  the  jealousy  of  the  senior  officers  on  the  station,  for 
indeed  we  had  captured  more  than  all  the  other  cruisers  to- 
gether ;  and  the  result  was  that  our  prizes  were  all  sold  for 
anything  they  would  fetch,  and  owing  to  the  ridiculous  sums 
for  which  they  were  given  away,  and  the  rascality  of  the  prize 
agents,  we  did  not  receive  a  tithe  of  the  prize-money  that 
should  have  come  to  us. 


144  WITH    COCHRANE    THE    DAUNTLESS 

"  This  ill-will  resulted  in  bringing  our  career  to  an  end. 
On  our  return  to  Port  Mahon  we  were  ordered  to  escort  an 
extremely  slow  old  mail-packet  to  Gibraltar.  What  rendered 
it  more  ridiculous  was  that  we  were  to  carry  the  mail-bags, 
and  only  to  hand  them  over  to  the  old  tub  on  her  arrival  at 
Gibraltar,  and  were  then  to  return  without  communication 
with  the  shore.  It  was  supposed  that  while  engaged  on  this 
duty  we  should  at  least  be  able  to  take  no  further  prizes,  but 
we  were  so  much  faster  than  our  convoy  that  while  she  crawled 
along  we  were  able  to  run  in  and  explore  bays  and  creeks.  In 
one  several  merchantmen  were  lying.  As  we  bore  in  towards 
them  they  weighed  their  anchors  and  ran  ashore.  As  soon  as 
it  was  dark  we  sent  our  boats  in  and  set  fire  to  them,  and  as 
one  was  laden  with  oil  it  made  a  blaze  that  could  be  seen  fifty 
miles  away.  Unfortunately  three  French  line-of-battle  ships 
were  within  that  circle — the  Indomptable,  the  Dessaix,  and 
the  Formidable — and  they  ran  in  to  ascertain  the  cause  of  the 
fire.  At  daybreak  we  made  out  three  large  ships  in  the  dis- 
tance, and  imagining  they  were  Spanish  galleons  on  their  way 
home  from  South  America,  at  once  prepared  to  chase  them. 
As  the  light  broadened  out  we  saw  our  mistake,  and  made 
them  out  to  be  line-of-battle  ships.  They  at  once  crowded  all 
sail  and  bore  down  towards  us. 

"  'I  fear  this  time,  Embleton,'  Cochrane  said  to  me,  '  it 
is  all  up  with  us.  We  will  do  our  best  to  get  away,  but  the 
chances  are  small.  There  is  one  good  thing,  they  are  flying 
the  French  flag,  and  we  may  expect  vastly  better  treatment  at 
their  hands  than  we  should  get  from  the  Spaniards,  who  would 
as  likely  as  not  refuse  to  acknowledge  a  surrender,  and  sink 
as  without  mercy.'  We  got  every  stitch  of  sail  on  her,  and  as 
the  wind  was  very  light,  put  out  our  sweeps.  The  French- 
men, however,  had  more  wind  than  we  had,  and  gained  on 
us  fast.  We  threw  our  fourteen  pop-guns  overboard  to  lighten 


COCHRANE'S  CAREER  145 

her,  for  even  Cochrane  felt  that  it  was  useless  to  think  of 
fighting  now.  The  three  vessels  separated  so  as  to  ensure 
that  we  should  not  slip  past  them,  and  the  Dessaix,  which  was 
nearest  to  us,  began  firing  broadside  after  broadside  each  time 
she  tacked,  keeping  her  bow-chasers  going  all  the  time,  and 
cutting  up  our  rigging.  For  three  hours  this  continued.  We 
threw  over  all  the  ammunition  and  stores,  but  slowly  and 
gradually  the  Dessaix  crept  up  to  us.  Just  as  she  was  abeam 
Cochrane  put  the  helm  hard  down,  and  we  spun  round  to 
make  a  desperate  attempt  to  run  between  the  enemy.  We 
were  received  with  a  broadside  from  the  Formidable,  and  the 
Dessaix  immediately  tacked  in  pursuit. 

"  In  less  than  an  hour  she  came  up  within  musket -shot,  and 
yawing  to  bring  all  her  guns  to  bear,  poured  in  a  broadside 
that  I  thought  would  have  annihilated  us.  Fortunately  she 
had  answered  her  helm  so  quickly  that  as  she  came  round  her 
guns  bore  ahead  of  us,  and  the  round  shot  struck  the  water 
under  our  bows.  The  grape,  however,  cut  up  the  rigging, 
riddled  the  sails,  and  damaged  the  masts,  and  as  the  next 
broadside  would  assuredly  have  sunk  us,  Cochrane  ordered  the 
flag  to  be  hauled  down.  Nothing  could  have  been  kinder 
than  our  treatment.  The  captain  declined  to  accept  Coch- 
rane's  sword,  begging  him  to  continue  to  wear  it  though  a 
prisoner.  In  our  thirteen  months'  cruise  we  had  taken  or 
retaken  upwards  of  fifty  vessels,  one  hundred  and  twenty-two 
guns,  and  five  hundred  and  thirty-four  prisoners.  After  our 
capture  the  French  line-of-battle  ships  took  us  and  our  lubberly 
convoy  into  Algeciras.  It  was  trying  to  be  lying  there  almost 
within  range  of  the  guns  of  Gibraltar.  Two  or  three  days 
later  Sir  James  Saumarez  sailed  in  with  a  powerful  squadron. 
The  French  at  once  put  out  boats,  carried  anchors  ashore,  and 
warped  in  until  they  grounded,  so  as  to  prevent  being  attacked 
on  both  sides.  The  tide  brought  the  British  ships  so  fast  up 


146  WITH    COCHRANE   THE    DAUNTLESS 

the  bay  that  in  the  hurry  of  the  work  the  French  ships  still 
lay  head  to  shore,  and  were  therefore  helpless  to  offer  any 
defence  to  the  expected  attack.  The  greater  part  of  the 
French  sailors  were  at  once  sent  ashore  to  the  powerful  Span- 
ish batteries  there,  and  a  very  effective  fire  was  opened  upon 
the  British  ships.  Nothing,  however,  could  have  prevented 
the  capture  of  the  French  vessels  had  there  been  any  wind. 

"There  was,  however,  scarce  a  breath  on  the  water,  and 
the  British,  being  unwilling  to  anchor  under  the  heavy  fire  of 
the  batteries,  were  swept  past  by  the  strong  current.  Their 
fire,  however,  severely  damaged  the  ships  of  war,  and  sunk 
several  gun-boats.  The  Hannibal  alone  managed  to  tack  and 
made  inshore,  thinking  to  place  herself  inside  the  Frenchmen, 
not  knowing  that  they  were  aground.  In  so  doing  she 
ran  ashore,  and  was  there  exposed  to  the  broadsides  of  the 
French  ships  and  the  fire  of  the  batteries  and  gun  -  boats. 
Captain  Ferris,  who  commanded  her,  continued  to  reply  to 
their  fire  until  most  of  his  guns  were  dismounted,  and  a  third 
of  his  crew  killed  or  wounded ;  then,  seeing  that  the  efforts 
of  the  rest  of  the  squadron  to  come  back  to  his  assistance  were 
vain,  he  was  forced  to  haul  down  his  flag.  The  next  day  a 
boat  with  a  flag  of  truce  came  across  from  Gibraltar,  with 
propositions  for  the  release  of  the  crews  of  the  Hannibal  and 
Speedy.  There  was  no  regular  system  of  exchange  at  that 
time,  but  as  the  French  did  not  know  what  to  do  with  their 
prisoners,  we  were  all  released  on  giving  our  parole  not  to 
serve  again  until  French  prisoners  of  our  own  rank  were  given 
in  exchange  for  us.  This  was  done  a  few  days  afterwards. 

"  Three  days  later  the  Spanish  admiral  at  Cadiz  arrived 
with  six  ships  of  the  line,  several  frigates  and  gun-boats,  and 
the  French  men-of-war  having  been  warped  off  the  ground 
and  their  damages  repaired,  the  whole  sailed  away  six  days 
after  the  action,  followed  by  the  British  squadron,  which  came 


COCHRANE'S  CAREER  147 

up  to  them  at  dusk.  As  soon  as  it  became  quite  dark,  Captain 
Keith  in  the  Superb  dashed  in  between  the  two  sternmost 
ships — two  Spanish  men-of-war — each  mounting  a  hundred 
and  twelve  guns,  poured  a  broadside  into  each  of  them  and 
then  shot  ahead,  and  presently  engaged  a  third  Spanish  man- 
of-war,  the  San  Antonio.  In  the  darkness,  aided  by  the 
smoke  of  the  Superb 's  guns,  she  was  not  seen  at  all  by  either 
of  the  two  Spanish  ships  between  which  she  had  passed,  and 
each  concluded  that  the  other  was  an  enemy,  and  a  furious 
cannonade  commenced  between  them.  One  of  them  lost  her 
foretop-mast,  the  sails  of  which,  falling  over  her  own  guns, 
caught  fire ;  the  other,  still  supposing  her  to  be  an  enemy, 
poured  broadside  after  broadside  into  her,  and  then  approached 
to  board.  In  the  confusion  the  yards  of  the  two  vessels  be- 
came entangled  together,  and  the  second  ship  also  caught  fire. 
Both  ships  burned  until  they  blew  up,  nearly  all  on  board  per- 
ishing, the  few  survivors  being  picked  up  by  the  boats  of  the 
Superb,  which  was  at  the  time  engaged  in  taking  possession  of 
the  third  Spanish  ship-of-war,  which  had  struck  to  her.  The 
officers  and  men  of  this  ship  were  released  in  exchange  for 
those  of  the  Hannibal  and  Speedy.  We  were  therefore  free  to 
serve  again,  but  were  all  sent  back  to  England  and  put  on  half- 
pay,  and  peace  having  soon  after  been  patched  up  I  remained 
without  a  chance  of  employment. 

"  Fortunately  my  parents  at  that  time  were  alive,  and  I  got 
on  better  than  some  of  my  comrades.  Poor  Parker  was  es- 
pecially badly  treated  by  the  authorities.  Cochrane  in  vain 
attacked  the  admiralty,  but  the  hostility  to  him  extended  to 
his  officers.  He  himself  had  a  serious  grievance,  for  the  long 
delay  before  he  had  obtained  his  promotion  caused  several 
junior  officers  to  pass  over  his  head,  but  annoying  as  this 
was  it  affected  him  less  than  the  cruel  treatment  of  Parker. 
Some  years  passed  before  that  officer  obtained  his  promotion. 


148  WITH    COCHRANE   THE    DAUNTLESS 

Despairing  of  getting  it,  he  took  a  little  farm,  married,  and 
settled  there  with  his  family.  Cochrane  persevered  so  strenu- 
ously on  his  behalf  that  at  last  he  was  made  commander,  and 
was  ordered  to  join  the  Rainbow  sloop  in  the  West  Indies. 
He  sold  off  everything,  even  his  house  and  furniture,  in  order 
to  enable  him  to  obtain  his  outfit,  and  proceeded  to  take  up 
his  command.  On  arriving  at  Barbadoes  he  reported  himself 
to  the  admiral,  who  knew  nothing  about  the  Rainbow,  but 
supposed  that  she  might  be  some  newly-purchased  craft  fitting 
out  at  the  Bermudas.  Parker  went  there,  but  could  hear 
nothing  of  her,  and  then  returned  to  Barbadoes,  when  it  be- 
came evident  that  no  such  vessel  was  in  existence. 

''He  returned  to  England  a  ruined  man.  He  had  ex- 
pended his  whole  capital,  amounting  to  upwards  of  a  thousand 
pounds,  in  settling  his  family  during  his  absence,  and  in  pro- 
viding for  his  outfit  and  voyage.  The  first  lord  of  the  admi- 
ralty expressed  polite  surprise  that  such  a  mistake  should  have 
occurred,  and  promised  compensation  for  his  loss  and  another 
command  on  the  first  opportunity.  Neither  promise  was 
kept,  and  Parker's  spirit  and  health  gave  way  under  his  mis- 
fortunes, and  he  sank  into  the  grave.  Cochrane,  finding  that 
he  too  had  small  chance  of  employment,  went  up  to  Edin- 
burgh and  worked  hard  at  the  university  there  until  war 
broke  out  again  in  1803,  when  he  applied  for  a  ship,  and  ob- 
tained, after  a  threat  to  retire  altogether  from  the  service, 
the  command  of  an  old  brig.  That  was  one  of  the  many  old 
craft  purchased  from  men  of  influence  in  exchange  for  their 
votes. 

"She  had  been  used  as  a  collier,  and  was  unable  to  sail 
against  the  wind.  Cochrane  was  ordered  to  watch  Boulogne, 
but  in  a  short  time  he  found  that  if  a  wind  on-shore  sprung  up 
nothing  could  save  the  ship.  He  reported  this  to  the  admiral, 
and  orders  were  then  sent  to  him  to  cruise  north  of  the  Ork- 


THE    BASQUE    ROADS  149 

neys  to  protect  the  fisheries.  There  were  no  fisheries  to  pro- 
tect, and  the  order  was  simply  a  sentence  of  exile.  He  re- 
mained here  for  nearly  fifteen  months,  and  during  the  whole 
of  that  time  not  so  much  as  a  single  ship  was  ever  seen  from 
the  masthead.  He  returned  to  England  on  the  ist  of  Decem- 
ber, 1804,  and  found  that  Lord  St.  Vincent  had  just  been 
compelled  to  retire  from  the  admiralty.  Cochrane's  claims 
were  urged  by  his  friends  on  Lord  Melville,  his  successor,  and 
with  such  force  that  he  was  transferred  to  the  Pallas,  a  new 
thirty-two  gun  frigate." 


CHAPTER  VIII 

THE    BASQUE    ROADS 

A  FEW  days  afterwards  the  lieutenant  said,  "Now,  Stephen, 
as  you  have  nothing  to  do  this  evening  I  will  go  on  with 
my  yarn.  Lord  Cochrane  had  not  forgotten  me,  and  on 
the  day  that  he  was  appointed  to  the  Pallas  he  wrote  to  me 
saying  that  he  had  applied  for  me  as  second  lieutenant,  and 
that  Lord  Melville  had  promised  to  appoint  me.  Two  days 
later  I  got  the  official  appointment  with  orders  to  join  at 
once.  I  found  Cochrane  in  a  very  bad  temper.  He  said, 
'  What  do  you  think,  Embleton,  that  confounded  cruise  of 
mine  in  the  Arab  has  ruined  me  in  the  opinion  of  the  sailors. 
Why,  if  I  had  been  appointed  to  a  hundred-gun  ship  on  the 
day  when  we  returned  together  after  the  loss  of  the  Speedy,  I 
could  have  got  volunteers  enough  for  her  in  twenty-four  hours. 
Now  the  dismal  tale  told  by  the  crew  of  the  Arab  of  our  exile 
in  the  North  Sea,  and  the  fear,  no  doubt,  that  I  am  going  to 
be  sent  off  to  some  similar  station,  has  so  frightened  them 
that  I  have  not  had  half  a  dozen  men  apply,  and  I  actually 
shall  have  to  impress  a  crew.'  » 


150  WITH    COCHRANE   THE    DAUNTLESS 

"  'I  expect,  sir,'  I  said,  '  that  when  we  get  hold  of  a  few 
prime  seamen,  and  I  tell  them  that  they  are  as  sure  of  prize- 
money  with  you  as  if  it  was  already  divided,  they  will  soon 
spread  the  news,  and  we  shall  not  be  long  before  we  fill  up. ' 

"So  it  turned  out ;  luckily,  among  the  first  haul  that  Coch- 
rane  made,  there  were  two  or  three  of  the  Speedy1  s  old  crew. 
I  took  them  in  hand,  and  told  them  that  so  far  from  being  in 
disgrace  any  longer,  Lord  Cochrane  had  a  commission  to 
take  a  month's  cruise  off  the  Azores  before  joining  the  fleet, 
and  that  that  job  alone  was  likely  to  fill  every  man's  pock- 
ets. In  a  very  short  time  we  had  the  pick  of  the  best  men 
in  Plymouth,  and  sailed  in  the  middle  of  January,  1805, 
for  the  Azores.  Instead  of  making  straight  for  the  islands, 
Cochrane  ran  down  the  coast  of  Spain  and  then  worked  up 
towards  the  Azores,  thereby  putting  us  on  the  track  of  any 
Spanish  vessels  bound  from  the  West  Indies  to  Cadiz.  A 
day  or  two  later  we  captured  a  large  ship  bound  from  Ha- 
vana laden  with  a  valuable  cargo.  Having  learned  from  the 
prisoners  that  the  ship  was  part  of  a  large  convoy  we  pro- 
ceeded on  our  course,  and  a  week  later  captured  another 
even  more  valuable  prize,  as  she  contained  in  addition  to  the 
usual  cargo  some  diamonds  and  ingots  of  gold  and  silver. 

"  Two  days  later  we  took  another,  the  richest  of  the  three, 
having  on  board  a  large  quantity  of  dollars ;  and  the  next 
day  caught  a  fine  privateer  with  more  dollars  on  board. 
These  four  prizes  were  sent  in  to  Plymouth.  As  we  only 
had  a  month  this  brought  the  work  to  a  close,  and  we  re- 
turned to  Plymouth.  We  had  a  serious  adventure  on  the 
way  back,  for  in  heavy  weather  we  fell  in  with  three  French 
line-of-battle  ships.  They  at  once  made  after  us,  and  with 
half  a  gale  and  a  heavy  sea  they  gained  on  us  fast.  As  we 
had  taken  out  the  dollars  from  the  prizes  and  had  them  on 
board  the  Pallas,  the  thought  of  losing  them  was  even  more 


THE    BASQUE   ROADS  151 

vexatious  than  the  idea  of  seeing  the  inside  of  a  French 
prison.  The  Pallas  was  a  very  crank  vessel,  and  her  lee 
main-deck  guns  were  under  water,  and  even  the  quarter-deck 
carronades  were  at  times  immersed.  However,  the  French- 
men came  up  so  fast  that  it  was  necessary,  at  any  cost,  to 
crowd  on  more  sail.  Cochrane  had  all  the  hawsers  brought 
up,  and  with  these  got  up  preventer  stays,  and  then  every  sail 
was  spread. 

"  This  drove  her  bows-under  through  the  seas.  Still  they 
came  up  to  us,  but  they  were  also  plunging  so  heavily  that 
they  too  were  unable  to  fire  a  gun.  Presently  we  had  one  on 
each  side  of  us,  with  less  than  half  a  mile  interval  between 
us.  The  third  was  a  quarter  of  a  mile  further  away.  The  sit- 
uation was  a  very  unpleasant  one,  for  now  that  they  were  up 
to  us,  they  would  be  able  to  shorten  sail  a  little  and  occasion- 
ally fire  at  us  with  their  broadside  guns.  Cochrane  gave  orders 
for  the  whole  crew  to  be  ready  to  shorten  sail  when  he  gave 
the  word,  and  that  every  sail  should  come  down  simultane- 
ously. It  was  a  critical  movement,  but  it  was  well  executed. 
Cochrane  himself  shouted  the  orders,  and  in  a  moment 
down  came  every  sail.  The  helm  at  the  same  moment  was 
put  a-weather.  Had  it  not  been  for  the  hawsers  with  which 
we  had  stayed  the  masts,  everything  must  have  gone  out  of 
her  as  we  wore  round,  rolling  in  the  trough  of  the  sea.  As 
soon  as  she  was  round,  up  went  her  sails  again,  and  we  went 
off  on  the  opposite  tack  to  that  on  which  we  had  before  been 
running. 

"  The  French  were  altogether  unprepared  for  such  a  ma- 
noeuvre in  such  a  heavy  gale  as  was  now  blowing,  and  it  was 
a  long  time  before  they  could  shorten  sail  and  get  on  the  op- 
posite tack,  indeed  they  ran  on  some  miles  before  they  could 
do  this,  while  we  were  rushing  along  at  the  rate  of  thirteen 
knots  an  hour  in  the  opposite  direction  ;  so  they  were  a  very 


152  WITH    COCHRANE    THE    DAUNTLESS 

long  distance  away  before  they  were  fairly  after  us.  By  this 
time  darkness  was  coming  on,  and  when  morning  broke  they 
were  altogether  out  of  sight,  and  we  continued  our  course  to 
Plymouth.  An  election  was  on,  and  while  we  were  lying  two 
months  in  Plymouth  Cochrane  stood  as  candidate  for  Honi- 
ton,  but  was  defeated.  He  refused  to  bribe,  and  his  oppo- 
nent therefore  won  hands  down,  as  he  paid  the  usual  sum  of 
five  pounds  for  each  vote.  After  the  election  was  over,  Coch- 
rane sent  ten  guineas  to  each  of  the  men  who  had  voted  for 
him,  saying  that  he  had  sent  it  as  a  reward  for  their  having 
refused  to  accept  the  bribes  of  his  opponent. 

"The  expenditure  was  considerable,  but,  as  Cochrane  cal- 
culated, it  ensured  his  return  at  the  next  election  whenever 
that  might  take  place,  as  each  voter  naturally  calculated  that 
if  he  had  paid  ten  guineas  a  vote  after  he  was  beaten,  there 
was  no  saying  what  he  would  pay  if  he  were  returned.  At  the 
end  of  May  we  sailed  in  charge  of  a  convoy  for  Quebec,  and 
brought  one  back  again.  It  was  dull  work,  and  we  were 
heartily  glad  when  on  our  return  we  were  ordered  to  cruise  off 
Boulogne  and  then  to  join  the  squadron  of  Admiral  Thorn- 
borough,  which  was  to  operate  on  the  French  and  Spanish 
coast.  There  we  captured  a  ship  at  anchor  under  the  guns  of 
a  battery,  and  also  a  fast-sailing  lugger,  and  then  joined  the 
squadron  at  Plymouth,  and  sailed  thence  on  the  24th  of  March, 
1806.  We  captured  some  fishing-boats,  but  let  them  go,  and 
from  information  gained  from  the  men  brought  off  two  prizes 
laden  with  wine,  and  during  the  week  captured  several  other 
ships,  and  then  rejoined  the  squadron,  which  we  supplied  with 
wine  sufficient  to  last  them  for  some  considerable  time. 

"Leaving  the  fleet  again,  we  heard  that  some  French  cor- 
vettes were  lying  up  the  Garonne  ;  and  after  dark  we  came  to 
an  anchor,  and  the  boats,  manned  by  the  whole  crew — except 
about  forty  men — under  the  command  of  the  first  lieutenant, 


THE    BASQUE    ROADS  153 

rowed  up  the  river  to  capture  one  of  them,  which  was  lying  a 
few  miles  up  under  the  protection  of  two  batteries.  About 
four  o'clock  in  the  morning  we  heard  heavy  firing.  The 
boats  had,  after  a  smart  fight,  captured  a  corvette  which 
mounted  fourteen  guns.  No  sooner  had  they  taken  possession 
than  two  other  corvettes  came  up.  The  guns  of  the  prize 
were  turned  upon  them  and  they  were  beaten  off,  and  the 
prize  was  brought  safely  down  the  river.  In  the  meantime 
our  position  had  not  been  a  pleasant  one.  Soon  after  daylight 
three  strange  craft  were  seen  making  for  the  mouth  of  the 
river.  They  were  clearly  enemies,  and  as  we  had  only  forty 
hands  on  board,  things  looked  very  blue. 

"  '  We  must  make  them  think  that  we  are  strong-handed,' 
Cochrane  said  to  me ;  and  he  ordered  the  men  aloft  to  fasten 
up  the  furled  sails  with  rope-yarn  and  to  cast  off  the  gaskets 
and  other  ropes.  Then  he  waited  until  the  enemy  approached, 
while  the  men  remained  on  the  yards  knife  in  hand.  When 
he  gave  the  word  they  cut  the  rope-yarns,  and  the  sails  all  fell 
together.  This  naturally  produced  the  impression  upon  the 
Frenchmen  that  we  had  a  very  strong  crew,  and  directly  the 
cloud  of  canvas  fell  they  hauled  their  wind  and  made  off  along 
the  shore.  Every  hand  on  board,  officers  and  men,  hauled  at 
the  sheets,  and  we  were  soon  in  chase.  We  gained  rapidly 
upon  them,  divided  the  crew  among  the  bow-guns,  and  opened 
fire.  Scarcely  had  we  fired  half  a  dozen  shots  when  the  cap- 
tain of  the  foremost  vessel  ran  his  ship  ashore. 

"  The  shock  brought  down  her  masts,  and  the  crew  landed 
in  her  boats.  We  ran  as  close  as  we  dared,  and  fired  several 
broadsides  into  her  to  prevent  her  floating  with  the  rising  tide. 
The  other  two  corvettes  came  back  to  assist  their  comrade,  but 
when  we  sailed  boldly  towards  them,  firing  our  bow  -  guns 
again,  the  one  nearest  to  us  also  deliberately  ran  ashore,  and 
was,  like  the  first,  dismasted.  The  third  boat  made  for  the 


154  WITH   COCHRANE   THE   DAUNTLESS 

river,  but  by  our  superior  sailing  we  cut  her  off,  whereupon 
she  also  ran  herself  ashore,  and  was  abandoned  by  her  crew. 
I  don't  know  that  I  ever  saw  forty  men  laugh  so  much  as  did 
our  fellows  at  seeing  three  strong  corvettes  thus  deliberately 
run  ashore  and  destroy  themselves,  when,  if  any  one  of  the 
three  had  attacked  us  single-handed,  we  could  have  made  no 
real  resistance.  The  prize  captured  by  the  boats  now  came 
down,  and  the  Pallas  rejoined  the  squadron.  Admiral  Thorn - 
borough  wrote  a  very  warm  despatch  as  to  the  gallantry  of  the 
affair,  but  no  notice  was  taken  of  it  at  the  admiralty,  and  the 
first  lieutenant  did  not  receive  the  promotion  that  he  deserved. 
After  two  or  three  other  affairs  we  were  ordered  to  sail  into 
the  Basque  Roads  to  reconnoitre  a  French  squadron  lying  there. 
This,  after  a  brush  with  a  French  frigate  and  three  brigs,  we 
succeeded  in  doing,  and  discovered  that  there  were  five  men- 
of-war,  two  heavy  frigates,  three  smaller  frigates,  and  three 
brigs.  A  few  days  later  we  sailed  inshore,  and  the  boats 
landed  and  destroyed  two  of  the  French  signal  stations  and 
carried  the  battery  and  spiked  its  guns. 

' ( A  day  or  two  afterwards  we  had  a  sharp  fight  in  the 
Basque  Roads.  A  frigate  and  three  brigs  came  out  to  meet 
us.  We  disabled  one  of  the  brigs,  drove  the  frigate  on  to  a 
shoal,  and  were  on  the  point  of  capturing  it  when  two  other 
frigates  came  out  to  her  assistance,  and  as  we  had  lost  several 
spars  when  we  ran  aboard  the  first  frigate  we  were  obliged  to 
make  off.  After  this  we  returned  to  England.  Another  elec- 
tion was  coming  on.  Cochrane  stood  again  for  Honiton,  and 
was  returned  to  parliament  without  spending  a  penny.  On 
the  23rd  of  August  he  was  appointed  to  the  command  of  the 
Imperieuse,  and  the  crew  of  the  Pallas  was  turned  over  to  her, 
and  on  the  2Qth  of  November  we  joined  the  fleet  again.  We 
took  several  prizes,  and  returned  to  Plymouth  in  February. 
While  we  were  there  another  election  came  on.  As  Honiton 


THE   BASQUE    ROADS  155 

was  sick  of  Lord  Cochrane  and  Cochrane  was  sick  of  Hon- 
iton,  he  stood  this  time  for  Westminster,  and  was  returned. 
He  presently  brought  forward  in  the  House  of  Commons  a 
motion  with  reference  to  the  abuses  in  the  navy,  the  only 
result  of  which  was  that  he  was  at  once  ordered  to  join  the 
Imperieuse. 

"  In  September  we  sailed  to  join  Lord  Collingwood's  fleet 
in  the  Mediterranean.  I  need  not  go  through  all  the  events 
of  that  cruise.  We  took  a  great  many  prizes,  and  had  a  good 
many  actions  with  batteries.  Spain  joined  France,  and  we  had 
a  brisk  time  of  it  and  gained  an  immense  amount  of  credit, 
and  should  have  gained  a  very  large  amount  of  prize-money 
had  it  not  been  for  the  rascality  of  the  prize-court  at  Malta, 
which  had,  I  believe,  been  instigated  by  some  one  in  London 
to  adopt  as  hostile  an  attitude  as  possible  towards  Lord  Coch- 
rane. The  most  important  and  exciting  affair  that  we  had 
was  our  defence  of  Fort  Trinidad,  close  to  the  town  of  Rosas. 
Lord  Cochrane' s  orders  had  been  to  assist  the  Spaniards  against 
the  French,  and  he  had  done  a  great  deal  that  way  by  landing 
strong  parties,  who  blew  up  roads,  blocked  communications, 
and  rendered  the  passage  of  bodies  of  French  troops  difficult 
if  not  impossible.  When  we  arrived  off  Rosas  the  French 
had  already  invested  the  town.  The  marines  of  the  Excellent 
had  been  holding  Fort  Trinidad ;  but  had  suffered  severely 
from  a  battery  erected  by  the  French  upon  a  hill  commanding 
it.  They  were  withdrawn  on  the  arrival  of  the  Imperieuse, 
and  their  place  taken  by  our  marines. 

"  It  was  a  rum  place  that  fort.  The  side  towards  the  sea 
sloped  gradually  but  steeply,  and  two  forts  were  placed  one 
above  another,  like  big  steps.  Above  these  stood  a  tall  tower, 
very  strongly  built.  The  forts  had  no  guns ;  but  had  they  had 
them  they  could  not  have  used  them  against  the  enemy's  battery 
on  the  high  cliff,  for  the  tower  stood  in  their  way  and  so  pro- 


156  WITH    COCHRANE   THE  DAUNTLESS 

tected  them  from  the  French  fire.  We  defended  the  place  for 
a  long  time,  even  after  the  town  of  Rosas  had  itself  fallen. 
Several  attempts  at  assault  were  made,  but  all  were  repulsed. 
The  last  was  the  most  serious.  The  enemy  had  made  a  breach 
at  the  foot  of  the  tower,  but  to  reach  it  they  would  have  to 
scale  the  cliff  on  which  it  stood,  by  means  of  ladders.  Coch- 
rane  prepared  for  the  assault  in  a  very  curious  way.  Just  below 
the  breach  was  a  sort  of  vault,  some  forty  feet  deep,  under  the 
tower.  Cochrane  knocked  away  a  portion  of  the  arched  roof 
of  this  vault,  so  that  on  reaching  the  top  of  the  breach  the 
French  would  see  a  great  gulf  in  front  of  them.  With  timbers 
and  planks  he  erected  a  sort  of  slide  from  the  breach  down 
into  this  vault,  and  covered  it  with  grease,  so  that  those  trying 
to  descend  would  shoot  down  to  the  bottom  and  remain  there 
prisoners  until  released. 

"  When  he  had  completed  this  he  laid  trains  to  blow  up 
the  magazines  in  case  it  was  necessary  to  evacuate  the  fort. 
Being  thus  prepared,  he  waited  for  the  assault.  Commanded 
as  the  tower  was  by  the  batteries  on  the  cliff,  nothing  could 
be  done  to  prevent  their  making  this  breach,  and  for  the  same 
reason  there  were  no  means  of  preventing  the  scaling  parties 
placing  their  ladders  and  climbing  up.  Interior  barricades 
were,  however,  formed,  and  when  they  made  an  attack  before 
daybreak  we  repulsed  them  with  ease.  Forty  of  the  enemy 
who  got  on  to  the  top  of  the  breach  were  destroyed  by  our 
musketry  fire  as  soon  as  they  reached  it ;  shells  were  dropped 
down  upon  those  waiting  below,  hand-grenades  thrown,  and 
after  suffering  severe  loss  they  drew  off.  The  French  erected 
fresh  batteries,  and  at  last  the  place  became  absolutely  unten- 
able ;  so  we  took  to  the  boats,  blew  up  the  castle,  and  got 
safely  on  board  the  Imperieuse.  After  capturing  some  more 
prizes  and  doing  other  service  the  Imperieuse  returned  to  Ply- 
mouth, and  Cochrane  was  appointed  to  go  out  and  take  the 


THE    BASQUE    ROADS  157 

command  of  some  fire-ships,  and  to  attack  the  French  fleet  in 
the  Basque  Roads. 

"Admiral  Gambier,  who  was  in  command  of  our  fleet  on 
that  coast,  was  in  strong  opposition  to  the  plan,  and  had  de- 
nounced the  effort  as  desperate;  but  the  ministry  were  ex- 
tremely unpopular,  and  they  desired  to  strike  a  blow  that 
would  excite  enthusiasm.  They  themselves  did  not  believe 
in  success,  but  offered  Cochrane  the  command  in  order  that, 
should  it  fail,  the  blame  could  be  thrown  wholly  on  his 
shoulders.  He  at  first  declined  altogether  to  have  anything 
to  do  with  it,  and  drew  up  a  memorandum  showing  the  num- 
ber of  batteries  that  would  have  to  be  encountered,  and  the 
extreme  improbability  of  their  ever  arriving  near  enough  to 
the  French  squadron  to  do  them  any  harm.  His  objections 
were  overruled,  and  he  was  ordered  to  sail  for  the  Basque 
Roads,  where  six  transports  prepared  as  fire  -  ships  were  to 
join  him.  This  appointment  caused,  as  was  natural,  very 
great  dissatisfaction  among  the  captains  commanding  the 
ships  in  Gambier's  squadron.  They  were  all  senior  to  C©ch- 
rane,  and  regarded  his  appointment  on  such  a  service  as  being 
a  slur,  and  indeed  an  insult  on  themselves  personally,  their 
anger  however  being  excited  rather  against  Lord  Gambier 
than  against  Cochrane  himself.  The  fleet,  indeed,  was  in  a 
state  of  general  disorganization  approaching  mutiny,  at  the 
inactivity  in  which  they  had  been  kept  and  at  various  meas- 
ures that  had  been  carried  out  by  the  admiral.  As  he  might 
have  had  to  wait  for  a  long  time  before  the  fire-ships  arrived 
from  England,  Cochrane  obtained  from  Gambier  several  craft 
which  he  fitted  up  as  fire-ships.  The  others,  however,  arrived 
from  England,  and  Cochrane  wanted  to  make  the  attack  on 
the  night  they  joined,  before  the  French  could  gain  any 
knowledge  of  the  nature  of  the  attempt  that  was  going  to  be 
made  against  them.  But  Lord  Gambier  refused  to  consent, 


158  WITH    COCHRANE   THE    DAUNTLESS 

and  the  result  was  that  the  French  did  get  notice  of  our  inten- 
tions and  were  prepared. 

"  In  order  to  avoid  the  danger,  the  enemy's  ten  men-of-war 
struck  their  topmasts  and  got  all  their  sails  on  deck,  his  four 
frigates  alone  remaining  in  sailing  order.  These  were  placed 
half  a  mile  in  front  of  the  men-of-war,  and  lay  in  shelter  of  an 
immense  boom,  specially  designed  to  arrest  the  approach  of  an 
enemy  at  night.  In  addition  to  the  fire-ships,  Cochrane  had 
prepared  two  or  three  vessels  as  what  he  called  explosion-ships. 
These  were  intended  not  so  much  to  damage  the  enemy  as  to 
terrify  them,  and  to  prevent  their  sending  boats  to  divert  the 
course  of  the  fire-ships.  A  solid  foundation  of  logs  had  been 
first  laid  on  the  keel,  so  as  to  form  an  extremely  solid  floor 
and  to  give  the  explosion  an  upward  tendency.  On  these 
were  placed  a  large  number  of  empty  spirit  and  water  casks 
set  on  end.  Into  these  fifteen  hundred  barrels  of  powder 
were  emptied ;  the  space  around  them  was  filled  in  with 
timber  and  sand,  so  as  to  form  a  solid  mass,  and  over  the 
powder  casks  were  laid  several  hundred  shells  and  some  three 
thousand  hand-grenades. 

"  The  French  deemed  their  position  impregnable.  Their 
men-of-war  were  ranged  close  together  in  two  lines,  and  the 
frigates  and  guard-boats  they  considered  would  be  sufficient 
to  divert  any  fire-ships  that  might  make  their  way  round  the 
boom.  Half  a  gale  was  blowing  on  shore.  Cochrane  himself 
went  in  the  explosion-ship  that  led  the  advance. 

"  The  night  was  dark,  and  when  Cochrane  reached  what  he 
thought  was  the  vicinity  of  the  advanced  ships  of  the  French 
he  lit  the  fuse,  and  with  the  officer  and  four  men  with  him 
took  to  the  boat  and  rowed  away.  They  made  but  little  way 
against  the  wind  and  sea,  and  the  fuse,  instead  of  burning  for 
fifteen  minutes  as  intended,  only  burned  half  that  time.  This, 
however,  was  really  the  means  of  saving  the  lives  of  those  on 


COCHRANE   SCATTERS   THE   FRENCH    FLEET    IN    THE   BASQUE    ROADS    BY 
HIS   TERRIBLE   EXPLOSION-SHIP. 


THE    BASQUE   ROADS  159 

board  the  boat.  She  was  nearly  swamped  by  the  effect  of  the 
explosion ;  but  as  its  force,  as  intended,  took  place  upwards, 
the  shells  and  grenades  exploded  far  overhead,  scattering  their 
contents  over  a  wide  area,  and  the  boat  itself  lay  inside  the 
circle  of  destruction.  We  on  board  the  Imperieuse,  which 
was  anchored  three  miles  away,  felt  the  shock  as  if  the  ship 
had  struck  heavily  on  a  rock.  For  a  moment  the  sky  seemed 
a  sheet  of  fire.  Then  came  the  crash  of  the  exploding  shells 
and  the  rattle  of  the  grenades,  and  then  a  roar  as  the  frag- 
ments and  pieces  of  wreck  fell  into  the  sea. 

"  The  fire-ships  were  very  badly  handled.  Many  of  them 
were  lighted  over  four  miles  from  the  enemy,  some  were  put 
on  the  wrong  tack  before  they  were  left  by  the  crews  ;  and 
although  there  were  upwards  of  twenty  in  number  only  four 
reached  the  enemy's  position,  and  not  one  did  any  damage 
whatever.  Nevertheless,  the  desired  effect  was  produced — 
the  explosion-vessel  was  alongside  the  boom  when  she  blew 
up  and  completely  shattered  it.  The  enemy  were  so  appalled 
by  the  explosion  that,  believing  the  fire-ships  were  equally 
formidable,  they  not  only  made  no  attempt  to  divert  their 
course,  but  with  one  exception  all  the  French  ships  cut  their 
cables ;  and  when  morning  dawned,  the  whole  of  their  fleet 
except  two  ships  were  helplessly  ashore.  The  tide  had  ebbed, 
and  they  all  lay  over  on  their  side,  with  their  bottoms  exposed 
to  fire,  and  had  Lord  Gambier  sent  but  two  or  three  ships  in 
to  complete  the  work  of  destruction  not  one  of  the  powerful 
French  squadron  would  have  escaped. 

' '  The  forts  had  begun  to  open  upon  us,  therefore  we  sailed 
away  towards  the  fleet  that  was  lying  ten  miles  off,  and  on 
getting  within  signalling  distance,  Cochrane  signalled  that  all 
the  enemy's  ships  except  two  were  on  shore,  and  that  the 
frigates  alone  could  destroy  them.  Beyond  acknowledging 
the  signals  no  notice  was  taken,  and  it  was  not  until  eleven 


160  WITH    COCHRANE    THE    DAUNTLESS 

o'clock  that  the  fleet  got  up  anchor,  and  then,  sailing  in  to 
within  three  miles  and  a  half  of  the  road,  anchored  again. 
By  this  time  the  tide  had  risen,  and  most  of  the  enemy's  ships 
were  already  afloat.  Furious  at  seeing  the  result  of  this  attack 
absolutely  thrown  away,  Cochrane  ordered  the  anchor  to  be 
weighed,  and  allowed  his  vessel  to  drift  towards  the  enemy. 
He  could  not  get  up  sail,  as  he  knew  that  he  should  be  at  once 
recalled  if  he  did  so,  he  therefore  drifted  until  but  a  short 
distance  from  the  enemy.  Then  at  half-past  one  he  suddenly 
made  sail  and  ran  towards  them,  hoisting  at  the  same  time  the 
signal  '  in  want  of  assistance,'  and  engaged  three  line-of- battle 
ships.  On  seeing  this  several  ships  were  sent  to  our  assistance, 
but  before  they  came  up,  one  of  the  men-of-war  hauled  down 
her  colours  and  was  taken  possession  of  by  us.  The  ships  that 
came  up  engaged  and  captured  the  two  other  French  men-of- 
war,  while  another  was  deserted  by  her  crew  and  set  on  fire. 

"  The  signal  for  our  recall  was  now  hoisted  by  the  admiral, 
and  was  obeyed  by  most  of  the  other  ships,  a  frigate  and  four 
brigs,  however,  taking  upon  themselves  to  remain  with  the 
Imperieuse.  However,  they  were  prevented  from  destroying 
the  vessels  that  still  lay  at  their  mercy  by  another  peremptory 
order  of  recall.  That  brought  the  service  of  the  Imperieuse 
and  my  service  to  an  end,  and  the  service  of  Cochrane  also. 
We  were  ordered  back  to  England,  and  Lord  Garnbier's  de- 
spatch as  to  the  affair  was  so  scandalously  untrue  that  Cochrane 
denounced  it  in  parliament.  Gambier  demanded  a  court- 
martial,  and  as  he  had  the  support  of  an  utterly  unscrupulous 
government,  a  scandalously  partial  judge,  and  false  witnesses 
backed  by  forged  charts,  the  result  was  a  certainty.  The 
public  indignation  was  excited  to  the  highest  pitch  by  the 
shameless  manner  in  which  the  trial  was  conducted,  and  al- 
though Cochrane's  career  in  the  service  was  ruined,  he  became 
perhaps  the  most  popular  character  in  the  country. 


THE    BASQUE    ROADS  161 

"  He  was,  as  you  know,  afterwards  imprisoned  and  ex- 
pelled the  house,  and  has  suffered  persecutions  of  all  kinds. 
Westminster,  however,  has  remained  faithful  to  him,  and  has 
returned  him  at  every  election,  and  he  has  never  relaxed  his 
strenuous  efforts  to  obtain  naval  reforms  and  to  vindicate  his 
own  character.  On  both  points  I  need  hardly  say  that  I  am 
heart  and  soul  with  him,  and  so  terrible  is  the  persecution  to 
which  he  has  been  in  a  variety  of  ways  exposed,  that  I  cannot 
blame  him  if  his  zeal  has  at  times  outrun  his  discretion.  Most 
other  men  would,  like  poor  Parker,  have  sunk  under  such 
treatment  as  he  has  received.  As  I  told  you,  we  did  not  get 
anything  like  a  tithe  of  the  prize-money  we  should  have  re- 
ceived for  our  captures,  and  his  share  of  it  was  more  than 
spent  in  his  litigation  with  dishonest  officials.  Fortunately,  I 
laid  out  a  portion  of  my  share  of  the  prize-money  in  buying 
this  house,  and  invested  the  remainder  in  the  funds,  and  it 
has  enabled  me  to  live  in  comfort,  which  I  certainly  could  not 
have  done  had  I  been  wholly  dependent  upon  my  half-pay. 
Although  it  has  been  most  annoying  remaining  for  so  many 
years  unemployed,  I  do  not  regret  having  served  with  Coch- 
rane  in  the  Speedy,  the  Pallas,  and  the  Imperieuse,  for  indeed 
no  three  ships  of  their  size  ever  inflicted  such  damage  upon 
the  enemy's  commerce,  captured  so  many  ships,  or  performed 
more  gallant  exploits.  When  I  am  dead  I  shall  leave  instruc- 
tions that  the  words,  '  He  served  with  Cochrane  in  the  Speedy, 
the  Pallas,  and  the  Imperieuse,'1  shall  be  placed  on  my  tomb- 
stone. They  will  be  by  far  the  most  striking  testimony  that 
could  be  written  as  to  my  career  as  a  sailor." 


162  WITH    COCHRANE   THE    DAUNTLESS 

CHAPTER   IX 

IN    CHILI 

SEEING  that  a  boat  was  advertised  to  sail  from  Dover  to 
Calais  on  the  nth  of  August,  Lieutenant  Embleton  and 
Stephen  went  over  there  on  the  evening  before;  going  on 
board  at  seven  in  the  morning,  they  arrived  at  Calais  at  mid- 
day. Mr.  Hewson  had  obtained  passports  for  them,  and  they 
went  on  next  morning  by  diligence  to  Boulogne.  Stephen's 
chest  was  at  once  taken  on  board  the  Rose.  Making  inquiries 
at  the  mairie  they  learned  that  Lord  Cochrane  had  arrived 
with  his  family  on  the  previous  day  from  England,  and  had 
put  up  at  the  Cheval  Blanc  Hotel.  They  therefore  went  there 
and  engaged  rooms,  and  then  called  upon  Lord  Cochrane. 

"You  have  arrived  in  good  time,  Embleton,"  he  said  as 
they  entered.  ' '  When  did  you  come  ?  ' ' 

"  Two  hours  ago  we  got  in  from  Calais,  and  I  have  just 
been  on  board  the  Rose  and  left  my  lad's  traps  there ;  then 
I  found  out  at  the  mairie  that  you  had  arrived  and  had 
put  up  here,  and  we  have  also  taken  up  our  quarters  in  the 
house. ' ' 

"We  laugh  at  these  French  official  regulations,"  Lord 
Cochrane  said,  "  but  they  have  their  advantages.  If  this  had 
been  an  English  town  you  might  have  spent  half  the  day  in 
looking  for  me.  I  have  not  been  on  board  the  Rose  yet ;  in 
fact,  she  only  arrived  here  last  night,  and  as  the  cabins  have 
been  engaged  for  some  time  there  was  no  occasion  to  hurry 
about  it.  In  fact,  this  morning  I  have  been  engaged  in  lay- 
ing in  a  good  stock  of  wine,  not  for  the  voyage  but  for  use  in 
Chili.  Of  course  one  gets  it  here  a  good  deal  cheaper  than 
in  England,  as  one  saves  the  duty ;  and  besides,  I  might  have 


IN    CHILI  163 

had  some  trouble  with  the  custom-house  here  if  it  had  been 
sent  over.  I  don't  suppose  they  would  admit  their  own  wine 
and  brandy  without  charging  some  duty  upon  it.  Are  you 
ready  to  enter  upon  your  duties,  Mr.  Embleton  ?  ' ' 

"  Quite  ready,  my  lord." 

"  Well,  I  have  nothing  for  you  to  do,  and  as  far  as  I  am 
concerned  your  duties  will  be  a  sinecure  until  the  day  we 
arrive  in  Chili.  Katherine,  you  must  take  this  young  gentle- 
man in  hand." 

Lady  Cochrane  smiled.  "I  am  new  to  command,  Mr. 
Embleton.  Lord  Cochrane  has  not  been  to  sea  since  our 
marriage  six  years  ago,  and  consequently  I  am  altogether  in 
ignorance  of  the  powers  of  an  admiral's  wife.  Are  you  fond 
of  children?  " 

"I  don't  know  anything  about  them,  Lady  Cochrane;  I 
have  never  had  any  little  brothers  and  sisters.  Of  course  some 
of  my  school-fellows  had  them,  and  it  always  seemed  to  me 
that  they  were  jolly  little  things  when  they  were  in  a  good 
temper. ' ' 

"  But  not  at  other  times,  Mr.  Embleton  ?  " 

''Well,  no,"  he  said  honestly,  "they  did  not  seem  particu- 
larly nice  when  they  got  in  a  passion." 

"My  children  don't  get  into  passions,"  Lady  Cochrane 
said  with  a  laugh,  "  at  least  very,  very  seldom." 

"  Don't  praise  them  up  too  much,  Katherine,"  her  husband 
said.  "  Children  are  naturally  plagues;  and  though  unfortu- 
nately I  have  been  so  busy  a  man  that  I  Lave  not  had  time  to 
do  more  than  make  their  casual  acquaintance,  I  don't  expect 
that  they  differ  much  from  others;  and  besides,  even  I  fly 
into  passions  occasionally — " 

"  Occasionally?  " 

"Well,  pretty  often,  if  you  like — I  certainly  shall  not  be 
surprised  if  I  find  that  they  take  after  me." 


164  WITH    COCHRANE    THE    DAUNTLESS 

The  next  two  days  were  spent  by  Mr.  Embleton  and  Stephen 
in  exploring  Boulogne. 

"  I  have  often  looked  at  the  place  from  the  sea,"  the  lieu- 
tenant said,  "as  we  were  cruising  backwards  and  forwards, 
keeping  a  bright  look-out  to  see  that  Bonaparte's  boat  flotilla 
did  not  put  to  sea,  but  I  did  not  expect  that  I  should  some 
day  be  walking  quietly  about  the  streets." 

"Lady  Cochrane  seems  very  nice,  father,"  Stephen  said 
presently,  as  they  strolled  along  the  wharves  watching  the 
French  fishing-boats  come  in. 

"  She  is  very  nice ;  and  so  she  ought  to  be,  for  she  has 
cost  Lord  Cochrane  a  fortune.  She  was  a  Miss  Barnes,  and 
was  an  orphan  of  a  family  of  good  standing  in  the  Midlands  ; 
she  was  under  the  guardianship  of  her  cousin,  who  was  high 
sheriff  of  Kent  when  Cochrane  first  met  her.  He  fell  in  love 
with  her  and  was  accepted ;  he  was  at  that  time  living  with 
his  uncle,  the  Hon.  Basil  Cochrane,  who  had  realized  a  large 
fortune  in  the  East  Indies,  and  was  anxious  that  Cochrane 
should  marry  the  only  daughter  of  an  official  of  the  admiralty 
court.  Even  had  he  not  been  attached  to  Miss  Barnes  the 
proposal  was  one  that  was  signally  distasteful  to  Cochrane. 
He  had  been  engaged  in  exposing  the  serious  malpractices 
by  which  the  officials  of  the  admiralty  court  amassed  great 
fortunes  at  the  expense  of  the  seamen,  and  for  him  to  have 
benefited  by  these  very  malpractices  would  have  seemed  a 
contradiction  of  all  his  principles.  His  uncle  in  vain  pointed 
out  to  him  that  the  fortune  he  himself  would  leave  him,  and 
that  which  he  would  obtain  by  the  marriage,  would  suffice  to 
reinstate  the  Earls  of  Dundonald  in  their  former  position  as 
large  landowners. 

"  Cochrane's  determination  was  unshaken  and  he  married 
Miss  Barnes,  so  his  uncle  cut  him  out  from  his  will  entirely 
and  broke  off  all  acquaintance  with  him.  I  am  sure,  how- 


IN   CHILI  1G5 

ever,  he  has  never  for  a  moment  regretted  his  choice.  I  be- 
lieve that  she  makes  him  as  perfectly  happy  as  it  is  possible 
for  a  man  of  his  restless  disposition  to  be." 

On  the  1 5th  of  August,  1818,  the  Rose  sailed  from  Bou- 
logne, and  Lieutenant  Embleton,  who  had  remained  on  board 
with  his  son  until  she  got  under  way,  returned  to  England. 

"Do  you  know  anything  about  this  Chilian  business?" 
Lord  Cochrane  asked  Stephen  as  they  walked  up  and  down 
the  deck  together  on  the  following  morning. 

"  My  father  told  me  a  little  about  it,  sir,  but  he  said  that 
he  had  not  paid  much  attention  to  the  matter  until  he  re- 
ceived your  kind  offer  to  take  me." 

"  Well,  lad,  it  is  well  you  should  know  something  about 
the  rights  and  wrongs  of  the  struggle  in  which  you  are  going 
to  take  part.  You  know  that  the  Spaniards  obtained  their 
possessions  in  South  America  partly  by  right  of  discovery, 
and  partly  by  the  papal  bull  that  settled  the  matter.  The 
Portuguese  were  given  the  east  coast,  while  to  Spain  were 
handed,  besides  the  islands,  the  vast  territories  of  Mexico  and 
Central  America  and  the  whole  of  the  western  portion  of 
South  America.  In  extent  it  considerably  surpassed  that  of 
Europe,  and  its  natural  wealth,  had  it  been  properly  admin- 
istered, would  have  been  fabulous.  The  Spaniards,  however, 
thought  but  of  two  things  :  one  was  to  force  the  natives  to 
embrace  their  religion,  the  other  to  wring  all  they  possessed 
from  them.  The  first  caused  the  death  of  great  numbers  of 
the  Indians ;  the  second  brought  about  the  virtual  enslave- 
ment of  the  whole  of  the  native  races. 

"  The  tyranny  practised  by  the  Spaniards  upon  these  poor 
people  was  inconceivable.  Tens  of  thousands,  I  may  say 
hundreds  of  thousands,  perished  from  the  labour  exacted  from 
them  in  the  mines,  and  the  whole  people  were  kept  in  a  state 
of  poverty  that  the  Spanish  officials  might  be  enriched,  and 


1G6  WITH   COCHRANE   THE  DAUNTLESS 

that  the  annual  amount  of  gold  and  silver  sent  to  Spain  might 
be  obtained.  No  doubt  it  was  the  successful  revolt  of  the 
North  American  colonies  against  us  that  first  inspired  these 
down-trodden  people  with  the  hope  of  shaking  off  the  intol- 
erable yoke  under  which  they  suffered.  The  first  leader  they 
found  was  Francesco  Miranda,  a  creole  of  Venezuela,  that  is 
to  say,  he  belonged  to  a  Spanish  family  long  settled  there. 
He  came  over  to  Europe  in  1790,  and  two  years  later  took 
part  in  the  French  Revolution.  Hearing  that  revolutionary 
movements  had  taken  place  in  Mexico  and  New  Granada 
against  Spain  he  obtained  a  promise  of  assistance  from  Pitt, 
who  naturally  embraced  the  opportunity  of  crippling  Spain, 
which  was  hostile  to  us,  and  in  1794  went  out  and  threw 
himself  into  the  struggle,  which  continued  with  but  doubtful 
success  for  some  years. 

"  In  1806  Miranda  obtained  some  valuable  aid  from  my 
uncle,  Sir  Alexander  Cochrane,  who  was  then  in  command  of 
the  West  Indian  station,  and  things  looked  much  brighter  for 
the  cause  of  independence.  But  unfortunately  a  few  months 
later  Pitt  died,  the  Whigs  came  into  power,  and  as  usual  a 
feeble  policy  succeeded  a  strong  one,  and  all  aid  was  with- 
drawn from  Miranda.  The  result  was  that,  for  a  time,  the 
Spaniards  were  able  to  crush  the  insurgents.  In  1810  Mi- 
randa again  organized  a  revolt  in  Venezuela;  but  he  was 
unable  to  cope  with  the  power  of  Spain,  and  two  years  later 
he  was  taken  a  prisoner  and  sent  to  Madrid,  where  he  died  in 
prison.  However,  his  work  had  not  been  without  result,  for 
the  same  year  that  he  commenced  his  unfortunate  venture  in 
Venezuela  a  revolt  broke  out  in  Mexico  headed  by  a  priest 
named  Miguel  Hidalgo.  This  was  conducted  in  a  barbarous 
fashion  and  was  speedily  crushed.  Two  leaders  of  a  better 
type,  Morelos  and  Rayon,  still  continued  to  carry  on  the 
war,  but  their  forces  were  defeated  in  1815,  and  though  I 


IN   CHILI  167 

believe  there  has  been  occasional  fighting  since  then,  matters 
have  been  comparatively  quiet. 

"  In  South  America  things  went  better.  In  1809  a  revolt 
broke  out  at  Quito  ;  it  was  headed  by  a  man  named  Na- 
renno.  His  force,  however,  was  never  strong  enough  to 
seriously  menace  the  power  of  Spain.  However,  for  five 
years  he  maintained  a  guerilla  warfare,  fighting  with  des- 
perate bravery  until  he  was  captured  and  sent  to  Spain, 
where  I  believe  he  also  died  in  prison.  So  far  a  great  deal 
of  blood  had  been  shed,  great  destruction  of  property  effected, 
and  Spain  had  been  put  to  a  vast  expense,  but  the  situation  was 
practically  unaltered.  A  change  was,  however,  at  hand. 
Bolivar,  a  native  of  Caracas,  had  been  brought  up  in  Europe, 
but,  stirred  by  the  news  of  the  struggle  that  his  countrymen 
were  maintaining,  he  went  out  in  1810  to  join  Miranda  in 
Venezuela.  When  the  latter  was  defeated  and  taken  prisoner 
Bolivar  crossed  into  New  Granada,  where  an  insurrection  had 
broken  out,  and  his  knowledge  of  European  methods  of  war- 
fare and  discipline  soon  placed  him  at  the  head  of  the  move- 
ment there,  and  two  years  after  his  arrival  he  was  appointed 
Captain-general  of  New  Granada  and  Venezuela. 

"  The  title  was  an  empty  one,  and  in  a  very  short  time  he 
was  defeated  and  forced  to  fly  from  the  country  by  a  formi- 
dable Spanish  army,  which  was  sent  out  in  1815  to  crush  the 
rebellion.  Bolivar  fled  to  Jamaica,  where  he  remained  but  a 
few  months.  He  organized  a  considerable  force  in  Trinidad 
in  1816,  and  landed  again  on  the  mainland.  The  cruelties 
perpetrated  by  the  conquering  Spaniards  upon  the  population, 
had  stirred  up  so  intense  a  feeling  of  hatred  against  them  that 
Bolivar  was  speedily  joined  by  great  numbers  of  men.  He 
gained  success  after  success,  swept  the  northern  provinces 
clear  of  the  Spaniards,  founded  the  republic  of  Colombia,  of 
which  he  was  elected  president,  drove  the  tyrants  out  of  New 


168  WITH    COCHRANE   THE   DAUNTLESS 

Granada,  and  marching  south  freed  the  province  of  La  Plata 
from  the  Spanish  yoke.  While  these  events  had  been  taking 
place  in  the  northern  and  western  provinces  the  national 
movement  had  extended  to  Chili.  Here  in  1810  the  people 
rose,  deposed  the  Spanish  Captain-general  Carrasco,  and  set 
up  a  native  government,  of  which  the  Count  De  La  Con- 
quista  was  at  the  head. 

"The  movement  here  was  not  so  much  against  Spain, 
whose  sovereignty  was  still  recognized,  as  against  the  Spanish 
governor,  and  to  obtain  a  series  of  reforms  that  would  mitigate 
the  tyranny  that  had  been  exercised.  Naturally,  however, 
these  reforms  were  obnoxious  in  the  extreme  to  the  Spanish 
authorities,  and  in  1811  the  Spanish  troops  attempted  to 
overthrow  the  new  government.  They  were,  however,  un- 
successful ;  the  revolution  triumphed,  and  the  rule  of  Spain 
was  formally  thrown  off,  and  Chili  declared  an  independent 
state.  This  was  a  good  beginning,  but  troubles  set  in  almost 
directly.  Three  brothers,  of  the  family  of  Carrera,  set  to 
work  to  turn  the  popular  movement  to  their  own  benefit,  and 
by  their  intrigues  overthrew  the  National  Congress,  and  es- 
tablished a  new  government  with  the  elder  of  them  as  its 
head.  So  much  dissatisfaction  was  caused  by  the  corruption 
and  misgovernment  of  the  Carreras,  that  the  Spaniards  en- 
deavoured to  reconquer  Chili. 

"When  the  danger  was  imminent  a  new  actor  came  to 
the  front.  General  O'Higgins,  a  man  of  Irish  descent,  whose 
father  had  been  a  Spanish  viceroy  of  Peru,  was  put  at  the 
head  of  affairs  in  November,  1813,  and  the  Spaniards,  who  had 
won  their  way  to  the  capital,  were  forced  by  his  good  general- 
ship to  retire  again.  The  intrigues  of  the  Carreras,  however, 
still  divided  the  forces  of  Chili,  and  the  Spaniards  again  ad- 
vanced from  Peru.  O'Higgins,  seeing  the  danger,  effected  a 
junction  with  the  forces  of  the  Carreras,  and  offered  to  give 


IN   CHILI  169 

them  his  support,  and  to  resign  his  position  in  their  favour, 
if  they  would  co-operate  with  him.  The  Carreras,  however, 
held  aloof  with  their  bands  from  the  battle,  and  left  O'Higgins 
and  his  little  body  of  900  men  to  oppose  4000  Spanish  troops. 
The  natural  result  was  the  defeat  of  the  Chilians.  On  the 
ist  of  October  O'Higgins,  with  his  little  party,  were  attacked 
at  Rancagua  by  the  Spaniards,  and  for  thirty-six  hours  resisted 
their  continuous  attacks.  The  Carreras'  force  was  but  a  short 
distance  away,  and  both  sides  expected  them  to  attack  the 
Spaniards  in  rear.  They  preferred,  however,  that  their  rival, 
as  they  regarded  him,  should  be  destroyed,  and  held  aloof. 

"  At  last  O'Higgins,  with  but  200  men — all  that  now  sur- 
vived of  his  force — was  driven  into  the  great  square  of  the  town, 
and  surrounded  on  all  sides.  He  still  resisted,  however,  until 
half  his  force  had  fallen,  and  then,  although  seriously  wounded, 
he  placed  himself  at  the  head  of  the  survivors,  cut  his  way 
through  the  enemy,  and  effected  his  retreat.  The  extraordinary 
valour  displayed  by  the  Chilians  in  this  battle  stirred  our  Eng- 
lish blood,  and  we  felt  that  here  was  a  people  who  had  not, 
like  the  rest  of  the  South  American  races,  become  absolutely 
demoralized  by  centuries  of  misgovernment  by  the  Spaniards. 
At  the  time,  however,  their  cause  seemed  lost.  The  Carre- 
ras submitted  without  trying  to  strike  another  blow,  and 
O'Higgins,  with  the  handful  of  survivors  from  Rancagua,  and' 
some  hundreds  of  fugitives,  crossed  the  Andes  into  La  Plata, 
where  they  remained  for  two  and  a  half  years  in  exile. 
General  San  Martin,  who  fought  under  Bolivar,  and  had  taken 
the  leading  part  in  aiding  La  Plata  to  obtain  its  freedom,  felt 
himself  strong  enough  at  the  beginning  of  1817  to  aid  O'Hig- 
gins to  recover  Chili  from  the  Spaniards,  who  had  been  carry- 
ing out  wholesale  confiscations  and  persecutions  among  all 
who  had  taken  any  part  in  the  revolution. 

"  In  February  they  crossed  the  Andes  with   5000  men,  fell 


170  WITH    COCHRANE   THE    DAUNTLESS 

upon  the  main  Spanish  army,  of  about  the  same  strength,  which 
was  encamped  on  the  heights  of  Chacabuco,  a  position  from 
which  they  overawed  all  the  large  towns.  Having  the  advan- 
tage of  surprise,  they  completely  defeated  the  Spaniards,  and 
in  a  very  short  time  drove  them  altogether  out  of  Chili.  The 
republic  was  again  established,  and  the  presidency  offered  to 
San  Martin.  He  declined  the  honour,  however,  and  it  was 
then  conferred  upon  O'Higgins.  He  and  his  council  saw  that 
it  was  impossible  to  hope  for  permanent  peace  so  long  as  the 
Spaniards  were  able  to  gather  armies  in  Peru,  and  pour  them 
down  into  Chili  whenever  they  chose,  so  he  lost  no  time  in 
sending  Don  Jose  Alvarez  over  here  to  endeavour  to  raise 
money  in  the  name  of  the  republic  to  build  war-ships,  and 
enlist  public  sympathy  on  their  behalf. 

"Among  other  things  he  was  commissioned  to  offer  me  the 
command  of  the  Chilian  fleet  as  soon  as  one  should  be  creat- 
ed ;  and  as  my  sympathies  were  very  strongly  with  the  brave 
people  who  were  struggling  against  tyranny,  I  at  once  ac- 
cepted, but  have  been  detained  in  England  upwards  of  a  year 
trying  to  get  the  war-steamer  that  we  have  been  building  com- 
pleted. At  last  the  Chilians  have  concluded  that  as  they 
cannot  get  the  steamer  they  may  as  well  get  me,  and  so  you 
see  I  am  on  my  way  out." 

•  "  Thank  you,  sir,"  Stephen  said  ;  "I  shall  feel  a  great  in- 
terest now  in  the  cause  of  the  Chilians.  My  father  told  me 
they  were  righting  against  the  Spaniards,  but  I  did  not  interest 
myself  much  in  the  matter,  and  thought  much  more  of  the 
honour  of  serving  under  you  than  of  the  Chilian  cause.  Now 
that  I  know  that  they  are  really  a  brave  people,  struggling  to 
maintain  their  freedom,  I  shall  feel  proud  of  fighting  in  so 
good  a  cause." 

"  How  old  are  you,  Mr.  Embleton?" 

"  I  was  sixteen  some  months  ago,  sir." 


IN    CHILI  171 

The  admiral  nodded  :  "A  very  useful  age  for  work ;  you 
are  old  enough  to  hold  your  own  in  a  fight,  not  old  enough  to 
begin  to  think  that  you  know  all  about  everything.  Now, 
tell  me  all  about  that  affair  of  yours  when  you  lost  your  ship. 
Tell  me  everything  you  can  think  of,  just  as  it  happened. 
Don't  exaggerate  your  own  share  in  it,  but,  on  the  other  hand, 
let  me  know  what  you  did  and  what  you  said.  You  see  I 
know  very  little  about  you  as  yet ;  but  if  you  will  tell  me  all 
the  details  of  the  business  I  shall  be  able  to  form  some  idea 
as  to  how  far  I  shall  be  able  to  entrust  the  carrying  out  of  my 
orders  to  you,  and  to  confide  in  your  ability  to  discharge  any 
special  missions  on  which  I  may  employ  you.  You  see,  Mr. 
Embleton,  the  conduct  of  the  Chilians  in  that  matter  of  the 
Carreras  shows  that,  however  bravely  they  may  fight,  as  yet 
they  have  not  much  idea  of  subordination.  They  know  nothing 
of  sea-service,  and  the  chances  are  that  interest  and  family  will 
go  further  in  obtaining  the  appointment  of  officers  to  ships 
than  any  question  of  abilities  ;  and  it  will  be  very  useful  for 
me  to  have  some  one  I  can  trust — even  if  only  a  junior  officer 
— to  see  that  my  orders  are  carried  out  when  I  cannot  be  pres- 
ent myself;  therefore,  I  want  to  gather  from  your  story  exactly 
how  you  would  be  likeiy  to  behave  under  difficult  circum- 
stances. We  will  sit  down  in  these  two  deck-chairs  ;  and  you 
shall  tell  me  the  story  exactly  as  you  would  tell  it  to  your 
father.  Remember  that  I  am  in  no  hurry.  This  voyage  is 
going  to  last  a  good  many  weeks.  The  more  you  tell  the 
story  in  detail  the  better  I  shall  be  pleased." 

So  closely  did  the  admiral  question  Stephen  as  to  every 
detail  that  it  took  many  hours  to  tell  the  story.  Even  when 
he  mentioned  about  the  idea  that  by  putting  some  water  in 
his  watch-glass  he  could,  when  the  sun  was  overhead,  use  it  as 
a  burning-glass,  the  admiral  stopped  him  to  inquire  about  the 
watch. 


172  WITH   COCHRANE   THE   DAUNTLESS 

"Is  it  the  one  you  are  carrying  now  ?  " 

"Yes." 

"Then  let  me  look  at  it.  Handsome  watch,  youngster; 
did  your  father  give  it  to  you?  "  And  then  Stephen  had  to 
break  off  from  his  story,  and  to  tell  exactly  how  it  came  into 
his  possession — the  whole  history  of  his  trading,  and  its  result. 
The  story  was  not  brought  to  a  conclusion  until  the  following 
afternoon. 

"  Very  good,  Mr.  Embleton,"  Lord  Cochrane  said  ;  "  now 
I  know  a  great  deal  more  about  you  than  I  did  before,  and 
feel  that  I  can  employ  you  without  hesitation  in  matters  in 
which  brain  as  well  as  courage  is  required.  If  I  had  heard 
your  story  before  I  would  have  taken  out  that  sailor  as  my 
coxswain.  Between  you,  you  showed  a  great  deal  of  resource, 
and,  as  far  as  I  can  see,  the  credit  of  the  matter  may  be  di- 
vided between  you.  Your  getting  your  fellow-midshipman  out 
of  the  hands  of  the  Malays  was  well  managed.  You  took  every 
precaution  possible  to  throw  them  off  the  scent.  You  acted 
very  wisely  in  deciding  to  make  for  that  wreck  when  you  dis- 
covered its  position  ;  and  you  showed  good  powers  of  resource 
in  your  arrangements  there,  especially  in  the  matter  of  getting 
fire.  I  hear  from  your  father  that  you  are  well  up  in  naviga- 
tion, and  altogether  I  congratulate  myself  on  having  a  young 
officer  with  me  whom  I  can  trust.  It  was,  of  course,  a  mere 
matter  of  chance  I  appointed  you — simply  in  order  to  oblige 
your  father,  who  is  a  gallant  officer,  and  who  has  suffered  in 
his  profession  owing  to  having  served  under  me.  Among 
the  many  applications  made  to  me  were  some  for  young 
officers  who  possessed  very  high  testimonials  of  conduct  and 
good  service,  and  I  may  say  frankly  that  I  was  more  than  a 
little  tempted  to  regret  that  I  had  selected  one  of  whose  con- 
duct I  knew  nothing,  although  I  felt  sure  that  your  father's 
son  would  assuredly  have  no  lack  of  courage  and  ability. 


IN    CHILI  173 

However,  I  am  now  well  content  that  I  made  the  choice 
I  did,  indeed  I  feel  sure  that  I  could  not  have  made  a  better 
one." 

It  was  a  long  voyage,  for  the  Rose  met  with  such  bad 
weather  off  the  Cape  that  she  was  at  first  unable  to  weather 
it,  and  it  was  ten  weeks  from  the  date  of  her  sailing  before 
she  entered  the  harbour  of  Valparaiso.  The  voyage  had  been 
of  advantage  to  Stephen.  In  the  rough  weather  off  the  coast 
he  had  volunteered  for  duty,  and  had  shown  activity  and 
courage,  going  aloft  to  reef  or  furl  sails  in  the  worst  weather. 
He  had,  too,  by  his  readiness  at  all  times  to  take  the  children 
off  Lady  Cochrane's  hands,  to  play  with  them,  and  to  tell 
them  stories,  gained  the  warm  approbation  of  their  parents, 
and,  before  they  arrived  at  Valparaiso,  the  admiral  treated 
him  with  a  kindness  and  cordiality  such  as  he  might  have 
shown  to  a  young  nephew  acting  as  his  flag-midshipman. 
Lord  Cochrane  was  received  at  Valparaiso,  and  at  Santiago, 
the  capital,  with  enthusiasm — dinners,  fetes,  and  balls  were 
given  in  his  honour ;  and  although  he  cared  but  little  for 
such  things,  it  could  not  but  be  gratifying  to  him,  after  the 
cruel  treatment  he  had  met  with  from  those  for  whom  he  had 
performed  such  brilliant  services,  to  find  that  elsewhere  his 
reputation  stood  at  the  highest  point. 

Stephen,  who  of  course  accompanied  the  admiral  on  all 
occasions,  enjoyed  these  festivities  very  much  more  than  did 
Lord  Cochrane.  To  him  it  was  all  quite  new,  and  very  pleas- 
ant. He  shone  in  the  reflected  light  of  the  admiral,  and 
was  made  a  great  deal  of  by  the  young  Chilian  ladies,  the 
only  drawback  being  his  ignorance  of  the  language.  He  had, 
however,  on  the  way  out,  picked  up  a  little  from  some  Chilian 
passengers  on  board  the  Rose,  and  it  was  not  long  before  he 
was  able  to  talk  to  a  certain  extent  to  his  partners  in  the 
dances.  Nevertheless,  much  as  he  enjoyed  himself,  he  was  by 


174  WITH    COCHRANE    THE    DAUNTLESS 

no  means  sorry  when,  on  the  22nd  of  December,  Lord  Coch- 
rane,  who  had  received  his  commission  as  Vice-admiral  of 
Chili,  and  Commander-in-chief  of  its  naval  forces,  hoisted 
his  flag  on  board  the  principal  ship  of  the  Chilian  navy. 

He  had  arrived  none  too  soon.  A  large  Spanish  force  was 
advancing  from  Peru  against  Santiago,  their  formidable  fleet 
were  masters  of  the  sea,  and  they  were  fitting  out  a  naval 
expedition  for  an  attack  on  Valparaiso.  The  Chilian  admiral, 
Blanco  Encalada,  had  succeeded  in  capturing  a  Spanish  fifty- 
gun  frigate,  which  had  been  renamed  the  <?' ' Higgins ;  but 
this  was  only  a  temporary  success ;  and  with  his  undisciplined 
and  badly-equipped  fleet  he  was  quite  unable  to  withstand  the 
threatened  attack  of  the  Spaniards.  Lord  Cochrane  had  to 
encounter  troubles  from  the  outset.  Among  the  Chilian  fleet 
was  the  Hecate,  an  eighteen-gun  sloop  that  had  been  sold  out 
of  the  British  navy,  and  purchased  by  two  men,  Captains 
Guise  and  Spry,  as  a  speculation.  They  at  first  attempted  to 
sell  her  at  Buenos  Ayres,  but,  failing  to  do  so,  had  brought 
her  on  to  Chili,  where  the  government  had  bought  the  ship, 
and  had  appointed  them  to  command  her.  They,  and  an 
American  captain  named  Worcester,  had  obtained  a  consider- 
able influence  over  Admiral  Encalada,  and  seeing  that  this 
influence  would  be  shaken  by  Lord  Cochrane's  ascendency, 
they  formed  an  intrigue  to  persuade  the  Chilian  admiral  to 
insist  upon  retaining  the  chief  command,  or  upon  dividing  it 
with  Lord  Cochrane. 

Admiral  Encalada,  however,  refused  to  allow  himself  to  be 
made  their  tool,  saying  that  he  would  wish  for  no  greater 
honour  than  that  of  serving  under  so  distinguished  an  officer 
as  Lord  Cochrane ;  for  a  time,  therefore,  their  intrigue  was 
defeated.  No  sooner  had  he  hoisted  his  flag  on  board  the 
O' Higgins  than  Lord  Cochrane  set  to  work  with  his  usual  en- 
ergy to  complete  the  outfit  of  his  little  fleet.  This  consisted, 


IN    CHILI  175 

in  addition  to  the  O'  Higgins,  of  the  San  Martin  and  Lautaro 
— both  of  which  had  been  East  Indiamen  :  the  former  carried 
56  guns,  the  latter  44 — the  Hecate,  now  called  the  Galvarino, 
of  1 8  guns;  the  Chacabuco,  of  20  ;  the  Aracano,  of  16  ;  the 
Puyrredon,  of  14.  The  Spanish  fleet  consisted  of  three  frig- 
ates :  the  Esmeralda,  of  44  guns  ;  the  Bengenza,  of  42  ;  and 
the  Sebastian,  of  28;  and  four  brigs:  one  of  22  guns,  and 
three  of  18.  There  was  also  a  schooner  carrying  one  heavy 
gun  and  20  small  ones ;  the  rest  were  armed  merchantmen : 
the  Resolution,  of  36  guns  ;  the  Cleopatra,  of  28 ;  the  Fer- 
nando, of  26 ;  the  La  Focha,  of  20 ;  and  the  Guarmey  and 
San  Antonio,  of  18  each. 

On  the  1 6th  of  January,  leaving  Admiral  Blanco  to  com- 
plete the  equipment  of  the  Galvarino,  the  Aracano,  and  the 
Puyrredon,  Lord  Cochrane  sailed  with  the  O' ' Higgins,  San 
Martin,  Lautaro,  and  Chacabuco.  From  the  day  the  admi- 
ral's flag  was  hoisted  to  that  upon  which  he  sailed,  Stephen's 
life  had  undergone  a  sudden  and  complete  change.  From 
morning  until  night  he  was  engaged  in  rowing  from  the  flag- 
ship to  the  other  vessels,  and  in  carrying  orders,  ascertaining 
how  certain  portions  of  the  work  were  getting  on,  and  report- 
ing to  the  admiral,  or  going  on  shore  to  the  dockyard  with 
urgent  requisitions  for  stores  required.  Lord  Cochrane  him- 
self was  equally  busy.  He  went  from  ship  to  ship,  and  stood 
by  the  captains  while  the  crews  were  put  through  their  exer- 
cises in  making  and  shortening  sails,  practising  the  drill  and 
cutlass  exercise  on  the  deck,  or  working  the  guns.  Hard  as  was 
the  work  imposed  upon  them  by  the  constant  drills,  the  en- 
thusiasm and  energy  of  the  admiral  so  communicated  itself  to 
most  of  the  officers  and  seamen  that  astonishing  progress  was 
made  in  the  four  weeks  that  elapsed  before  sailing.  Though 
it  could  hardly  be  said  that  the  smartness  of  the  crews  equalled 
that  which  would  be  shown  by  British  men-of-war's  men,  the 


176  WITH    COCHRANE   THE    DAUNTLESS 

work  was  very  fairly  done,  and  the  admiral  felt  convinced 
that  his  ships  would  be  worked  and  manoeuvred  far  more 
rapidly  than  those  of  the  Spaniards. 

Stephen  had  from  the  first  messed  with  the  ship's  officers. 
Lord  Cochrane  had  said  to  him  on  the  day  when  he  hoisted 
his  flag:  "As  my  flag-midshipman,  Mr.  Embleton,  I  could 
very  well  have  you,  as  well  as  my  flag-lieutenant,  at  my  table, 
but  I  think  that  it  would  be  better  for  you  to  mess  with  the 
officers.  I  find  that  in  the  Chilian  service  the  midshipmen 
do  not  mess  by  themselves,  as  is  the  case  with  us,  but  have  a 
common  mess  with  the  lieutenants.  There  are  certainly  con- 
siderable advantages  in  this  arrangement;  though  it  might 
not  work  well  in  our  navy,  where  boys  are  much  more  mis- 
chievous and  given  to  pranks  than  are  those  of  southern 
people.  They  do  not  enter  so  young  into  the  service,  and 
the  six  midshipmen  on  board  are  none  of  them  younger  than 
yourself.  They  are  all  members  of  good  old  families  here, 
and  there  is  therefore  no  need  of  so  strict  a  line  of  distinction 
between  midshipmen  and  lieutenants  as  there  is  with  us.  The 
system  is  more  like  that  which  prevails  in  our  army,  where 
the  youngest  ensigns  associate  when  off  duty  on  terms  of 
equality  with  their  elders.  Mingling  with  them  you  will 
acquire  the  language  far  more  rapidly  than  you  would  do  were 
you  to  take  your  meals  at  my  table.  Moreover,  I  think  that 
it  will  be  a  more  pleasant  and  natural  life  for  you,  while  it 
will  avoid  any  appearance  of  favouritism  and  be  altogether 
better." 

Stephen  bowed.  Fond  as  he  was  of  the  admiral,  he  felt 
himself  that  it  would  be  more  pleasant  to  associate  with  lads 
of  his  own  age,  than  to  be  always  on  his  best  behaviour.  He 
already  knew  all  the  officers,  having  met  them  at  the  various 
entertainments  at  Valparaiso.  He  had  found  them  pleasant 
young  fellows,  though  their  airs  of  manliness  and  gravity  had 


IN    CHILI  177 

amused  him  a  good  deal,  but  he  wished  that  he  had  in  ad- 
dition his  old  friend  Joyce,  with  whom  he  could  occasionally 
skylark,  quarrel,  and  make  it  up  again,  after  the  manner  of 
boys.  The  ward  -  room  was  large  and  airy,  and  there  was 
ample  space  for  the  party.  At  meals  they  consisted  of  the  three 
lieutenants,  the  surgeon,  purser,  and  seven  midshipmen.  As 
he  had  never  been  accustomed  to  a  rough  life  in  the  cock- 
pit of  a  British  man-of-war,  the  contrast  to  his  former  condi- 
tion was  not  so  strong  as  it  would  have  been  to  a  midshipman 
in  the  royal  service ;  but  the  somewhat  stiff  courtesy  that  pre- 
vailed among  the  Chilian  officers  in  their  relations  to  each 
other  differed  widely  from  the  frank  heartiness  at  Captain 
Finder's  table.  When  the  meals  were  over,  however,  the  air 
of  restraint  softened  a  little,  and  Stephen  soon  became  on 
intimate  terms  with  the  other  midshipmen,  three  or  four  of 
whom  had  never  been  to  sea  before. 

"  Is  this  like  life  on  board  your  ships  ?  "  one  of  them  asked 
him  a  few  days  after  he  had  joined. 

"  Not  a  bit,  Don  Enriques.  To  begin  with,  the  midship- 
men never  dine  with  the  lieutenants,  and  they  don't  live  half 
as  well  as  we  do.  In  the  next  place,  you  are  a  great  deal 
more  serious,  and  a  great  deal  more  dignified  than  English 
midshipmen  are.  With  us  they  are  always  playing  tricks 
with  each  other.  We  may  be  officers  on  board  the  ship,  but 
when  we  are  among  ourselves  we  are  just  like  other  boys  of 
the  same  age. ' ' 

"  But  you  do  not  consider  yourself  a  boy,  Don  Estevan  ?  " 

"  I  do  indeed,"  Stephen  laughed;  "and  no  one  thinks 
himself  a  man  until  he  is  quite  a  senior  midshipman." 

"  But  if  you  play  tricks  on  each  other  you  must  quarrel 
sometimes  ? ' ' 

"  Oh,  yes,  we  quarrel,  and  then  we  have  a  fight,  and  then 
we  are  good  friends  again." 


178  WITH    COCHRANE    THE    DAUNTLESS 

"  Ah  !     Do  you  fight  with  swords  or  pistols  ?  " 

Stephen  laughed.      "  We  fight  with  our  fists." 

"What,  like  common  people!  "  the  young  Chilian  said, 
greatly  shocked. 

"  Just  the  same,  except  that  we  fight  a  little  better.  That 
is  the  way  we  always  settle  quarrels  among  boys  in  England, 
and  a  very  good  way  it  is.  One  gets  a  black  eye  or  some- 
thing of  that  sort,  and  there  is  an  end  of  it.  As  for  fighting 
with  swords  or  pistols,  I  do  not  know  what  would  happen  if 
two  midshipmen  were  to  fight  a  duel.  In  the  first  place  they 
would  get  into  a  frightful  row,  and  in  the  second  place  they 
would  be  the  laughing-stock  of  the  whole  fleet.  Of  course, 
in  a  country  like  this,  where  a  blow  is  considered  as  the 
deadliest  of  insults,  things  are  different ;  but  in  England  it  is 
not  viewed  in  the  same  light.  Everyone  knows  something  of 
boxing,  that  is,  of  the  proper  way  of  using  the  fists,  and  it 
has  come  to  be  the  national  way  of  fighting  among  the  com- 
mon people  and  among  boys  of  all  classes. ' ' 

"  And  would  you,  for  example,  Don  Estevan,  consent  to 
fight  with  a  boy  or  with  a  man  of  the  peasant  class  if  he  in- 
jured you  ? ' ' 

"  Certainly  I  would,"  Stephen  said.  "  I  don't  know  that 
I  would  fight  a  big  man,  because  evidently  I  should  have  very 
little  chance  with  him;  but  if  I  quarrelled  with  a  fellow  my 
own  age,  we  should  of  course  pitch  into  each  other  without 
any  question  of  rank. ' ' 

Exclamations  of  surprise  broke  from  the  other  midshipmen 
as  Stephen  made  these  statements  in  very  broken  Spanish. 
He  was  questioned  over  and  over  again  by  them  to  make  sure 
that  they  had  not  misunderstood  him. 

"  You  seem  to  think  it  terrible,"  Stephen  said  ;  "  but  you 
don't  stand  on  rank  yourselves  when  you  fight.  When  you 
board  an  enemy's  ship  you  fight  with  a  sailor  who  attacks 


WRECKED  179 

you,  and  don't  stop  to  discuss  with  him  whether  he  is  one  of 
gentle  blood,  like  yourself,  or  a  mere  peasant.  For  the  time 
being  you  put  yourself  on  an  equality  with  him,  and  it  is  a 
pure  matter  of  strength  and  skill.  It  is  just  the  same  with  us 
in  most  matters.  We  stand  on  our  rank  the  same  as  you  do, 
but  when  our  blood  is  up  we  put  all  that  aside  and  fight  with- 
out caring  whether  our  opponent  is  a  nobleman  or  a  peasant, 
and  when  it  is  all  over  we  shake  hands  and  don't  feel  that 
there  is  any  bad  blood  between  us. ' ' 


CHAPTER  X 

WRECKED 

ON  the  fifth  morning  when  the  ships  got  up  anchor  there 
were  no  signs  of  movement  on  board  the  Chacabuco,  nor 
was  any  attention  paid  to  the  admiral's  signals. 

"  Mr.  Embleton,  take  one  of  the  gigs,  row  on  board,  and 
report  what  is  the  matter  there. ' ' 

Stephen  did  so.  The  approach  of  the  boat  was  apparently 
unobserved,  and  the  companion-ladder  was  not  lowered.  He 
therefore  ordered  the  men  to  cease  rowing ;  presently  an 
officer  appeared  at  the  side. 

"  The  admiral  wishes  to  know  what  is  the  matter,  and  why 
you  do  not  obey  his  signals,"  Stephen  said  sharply,  standing 
up  in  the  stern-sheets. 

"The  crew  are  in  a  state  of  mutiny,"  the  officer  said, 
"  and  they  refuse  to  get  up  the  anchor." 

Stephen  returned  with  the  message.  The  admiral  at  once 
gave  orders  for  the  frigate  to  bear  down  on  the  Chacabuco, 
and  the  crew  were  mustered  at  quarters.  When  she  came 
within  a  cable's  length  of  the  Chacabuco  the  frigate  was 


180  WITH    COCHRANE    THE   DAUNTLESS 

thrown  up  into  the  wind,  and  the  admiral  shouted  :  "  Unless 
the  anchor  is  a-peak  in  five  minutes  we  will  blow  you  out  of 
the  water." 

There  was  no  mistaking  the  earnestness  of  the  tone,  and 
many  of  the  men  sprang  at  once  to  the  capstan  bars,  and  the 
anchor  was  soon  out  of  the  water.  "  Make  sail,"  Lord 
Cochrane  again  ordered,  "  and  keep  along  close  beside  us." 

A  few  minutes  later  the  fleet  were  all  under  sail,  and  that 
afternoon  entered  the  port  of  Coquimbo.  As  soon  as  the 
anchors  were  let  go  the  admiral's  gig  was  lowered,  and  he 
went  on  board  the  Chacabuco. 

' '  What  is  all  this  about  ?  "  he  asked  the  captain,  who  re- 
ceived him  at  the  gangway. 

"  The  men  say  that  they  are  overworked,  your  excellency; 
that  they  are  kept  hard  at  it  all  day  making  and  taking  off 
sail,  and  that  they  want  to  leave  the  ship." 

"  Muster  the  crew,  sir,"  Lord  Cochrane  said  briefly.  The 
crew  silently  assembled.  The  port  -  holes  of  the  C?  Higgins 
were  all  opened,  and  the  men  could  be  seen  standing  at  the 
guns. 

"Now,  men,"  Lord  Cochrane  said,  "I  give  you  five 
minutes  to  pick  out  the  twelve  men  who  have  been  the  ring- 
leaders in  this  mutiny.  You  will  iron  them  and  bring  them 
on  board  the  flag-ship,  where  they  will  be  tried  and  punished 
for  their  offence.  What !  is  there  a  ship's  crew  of  Chilians 
so  regardless  of  their  duty,  so  careless  of  the  honour  of  their 
country,  that  they  are  ready  to  disgrace  themselves  by  turning 
into  a  pack  of  mutineers,  merely  because  they  are  required  to 
do  extra  work  to  fit  them  for  fighting  the  enemies  of  their 
country?  I  am  willing  to  believe  that  you  have  suffered 
yourselves  to  be  misled,  and  that  you  did  not  understand  the 
magnitude  of  the  crime  that  you  were  committing.  There, 
six  bells  are  striking.  You  have  five  minutes  to  put  your 


WRECKED  181 

ringleaders  into  a  boat.  See  that  you  do  not  exceed  that 
time,  for  as  soon  as  my  watch  tells  me  that  five  minutes  have 
gone,  I  give  the  order  to  fire.  One  broadside  will  be  suf- 
ficient to  send  the  Chacabuco  to  the  bottom.  Gentlemen," 
he  said,  turning  to  the  officers,  "  at  the  end  of  the  five 
minutes,  if  my  orders  have  not  been  carried  out,  you  will  take 
to  the  boats  and  leave  the  ship,  and  as  soon  as  you  have  done 
so  we  shall  open  fire. ' ' 

He  then  turned  on  his  heel,  went  down  the  ladder,  and 
rowed  back  to  his  ship.  As  he  left  he  saw  there  was  a  great 
uproar  on  board  the  Chacabuco  as  the  sailors  disputed  among 
themselves  who  had  been  their  leaders  in  the  matter.  Two 
boats  were  lowered  at  once,  and  just  before  the  expiration  of 
the  given  time  twelve  men  were  put  on  board  them  ironed, 
and  were  then  rowed  to  the  flag-ship.  A  signal  was  made  for 
the  first  lieutenant  of  each  of  the  other  ships  of  the  squadron 
to  come  on  board,  and  a  court-martial  was  at  once  held  upon 
the  mutineers.  The  man  who  was  shown  to  have  been  at  the 
bottom  of  the  whole  affair,  was  sentenced  to  be  hung,  and  the 
rest  to  terms  of  imprisonment.  The  admiral  remitted  the 
death  sentence  and  changed  it  to  ten  years  in  jail,  and  the 
culprit  and  the  other  prisoners  were  taken  on  shore  and 
handed  over  to  the  civil  authorities.  Having  thus  given  a 
wholesome  lesson,  Lord  Cochrane  proceeded  northward  to 
Callao  Bay,  where  he  intended  to  attack  a  considerable  naval 
force  gathered  there. 

They  were  protected  by  the  batteries  of  Callao  and  of  San 
Lorenzo,  a  little  island  in  the  bay,  mounting  in  all  one  hun- 
dred and  sixty  guns,  in  addition  to  those  on  board  the  Spanish 
war-ships,  which  consisted  of  a  few  frigates,  two  brigs,  and 
eight  gun-boats.  To  attack  such  a  force  lying  under  the  guns 
of  their  batteries  was  too  perilous  an  enterprise  for  even  Coch- 
rane to  undertake.  He  determined,  however,  to  make  an 


182  WITH    COCHRANE    THE    DAUNTLESS 

attempt  to  do  them  at  least  some  damage.  He  knew  that 
two  American  men-of-war  were  expected  to  arrive  in  Callao, 
and  he  made  some  slight  changes  in  his  flag  -  ship  and  the 
Lautaro,  hoisted  the  American  flag,  and  sailed  towards  the 
harbour.  The  Carnival  was  at  the  time  being  carried  on, 
and  there  was  the  less  chance  that  a  vigilant  watch  would  be 
kept  up  by  the  forts  and  ships.  Unfortunately  a  dense  fog 
came  on,  and  for  eight  days  the  Chilians  were  forced  to  re- 
main inactive.  At  the  end  of  that  time,  hearing  a  heavy 
firing,  and  believing  that  one  of  his  ships  must  have  gone  into 
the  bay  and  had  been  attacked  by  the  enemy,  Cochrane  stood 
in  the  direction  of  the  sound.  The  other  ships  did  the  same, 
when  the  fog  clearing  up  in  a  moment,  they  discovered  each 
other,  and  found  a  small  gun-boat  lying  close  to  them. 

This  they  captured  at  once,  and  learned  that  the  firing  was 
a  salute  in  honour  of  the  viceroy,  who  had  been  paying  a  visit 
to  the  batteries,  and  was  now  returning  to  the  town  in  a  brig- 
of-war  which  was  crowding  all  sail.  The  fog  again  closed  in, 
and  hoping  the  capture  of  the  gun-boat  had  not  been  noticed, 
Lord  Cochrane  determined  to  risk  a  partial  engagement  rather 
than  withdraw  without  firing  a  shot,  as  a  retreat  now  would 
raise  the  spirits  of  the  Spaniards  and  depress  those  of  the 
Chilians.  Accordingly  the  O '  Higgins  and  the  Lautaro  stood 
on,  each  having  a  boat  ahead  sounding.  The  wind  fell  very 
light,  and  instead  of  going  in  and  engaging  the  Spanish  ships 
as  he  intended,  Lord  Cochrane  was  forced  to  anchor  at  some 
distance  from  them.  The  moment  that  the  two  Chilian  vessels 
were  made  out  through  the  fog  the  ships  and  batteries  opened 
fire  upon  them,  showing  that  the  capture  of  the  gun-boat  had 
been  observed  and  the  sailors  and  garrison  called  to  the  guns. 

For  two  hours  the  ships  were  exposed  to  a  heavy  fire  from 
the  batteries  and  ships.  They  replied  steadily,  their  aim  being 
chiefly  directed  against  the  northern  angle  of  one  of  the  prin- 


WRECKED  183 

cipal  forts,  whose  fire  especially  annoyed  them.  As  soon  as 
a  little  breeze  sprang  up,  anchors  were  weighed,  and  the  two 
ships  sailed  to  and  fro  in  front  of  the  batteries  returning  their 
fire,  until  Captain  Guise,  who  commanded  the  Lautaro,  was 
severely  wounded,  and  his  ship  at  once  retired  from  action. 
Neither  of  the  other  Chilian  vessels  ventured  within  range 
from  first  to  last.  The  flag-ship  being  thus  left  alone  exposed 
to  the  whole  fire  of  the  enemy,  Lord  Cochrane  was  ultimately 
obliged  to  relinquish  the  attack.  He  retired  to  an  island 
three  miles  distant  from  the  port,  and  for  five  weeks  blockaded 
Callao. 

"  This  is  dull  work,  Mr.  Embleton,"  the  admiral  said  one 
day,  as  he  paced  up  and  down  the  quarter-deck.  "  What  can 
one  do  with  four  badly-equipped  ships,  one  of  which  has  lost 
its  commander,  who  though  not  friendly  to  me  was  at  least  an 
officer  of  courage,  the  other  two  commanded  by  men  who 
are  afraid  to  bring  their  ships  within  range  of  the  enemy's 
guns,  and  all  badly  manned,  badly  provisioned,  and  by  no 
means  in  fighting  trim.  If  the  Spaniards  would  but  sail  out 
to  engage  us,  we  might  do  something,  but  they  have  dis- 
mantled their  frigates,  and  nothing  will  tempt  the  gun-boats 
to  move  out  from  the  forts.  The  only  consolation  is  that  the 
spectacle  of  our  blockading  the  place  successfully  cannot  but 
rouse  the  spirit  of  the  Chilians,  and  induce  them,  I  hope,  to 
make  an  effort  to  put  a  force  on  the  sea  capable  of  completely 
crippling  the  Spaniards." 

At  the  end  of  five  weeks  the  little  fleet  proceeded  to  Huacho, 
a  short  distance  north  of  Callao.  The  bulk  of  its  inhabitants 
were  secretly  in  sympathy  with  the  Chilians,  and  the  Spanish 
garrison  evacuated  the  place  and  fled  almost  immediately  the 
ships  opened  fire.  The  order  was  given  for  boats  to  be 
lowered,  and  Lord  Cochrane  himself  landed  to  see  that  there 
was  no  scramble  for  the  property  of  the  government.  Of  this 


184  WITH   COCHRANE   THE   DAUNTLESS 

a  large  quantity  was  found  in  the  stores,  together  with  a  con- 
siderable amount  of  money,  which  was  of  even  more  impor- 
tance to  the  Chilians,  whose  treasury  was  empty,  and  who 
were  crippled  in  all  their  operations  by  want  of  specie.  During 
April  and  May  Lord  Cochrane  cruised  up  and  down  the 
Peruvian  coast.  Several  landings  were  effected,  and  valuable 
captures  made  of  money  and  stores. 

The  property  of  the  Peruvians  was  always  respected,  and  the 
admiral  spared  no  pains  to  convince  the  inhabitants  that  the 
Chilians  were  their  friends  and  were  hostile  only  to  the  Span- 
iards their  oppressors.  Several  ships  laden  with  stores  for  the 
Spanish  troops  also  fell  into  their  hands.  Towards  the  end  of 
the  cruise  a  sail  was  observed  at  some  distance  in  the  offing. 
As,  at  the  moment,  the  boats  were  about  to  effect  a  landing  to 
capture  a  fort  from  which  the  Spaniards  had  been  driven  by 
the  fire  of  the  ships,  the  admiral  turned  to  Stephen  and  said : 

"Mr.  Embleton,  please  to  take  command  of  the  second 
cutter.  She  is  a  fast  sailer,  and  I  have  no  doubt  that  you 
can  overhaul  that  brig  in  a  couple  of  hours.  The  boat's  crew 
are  already  on  board  and  armed,  but  I  don't  suppose  you 
will  meet  with  any  resistance.  When  you  have  boarded  her 
you  will  take  command  of  her  and  navigate  her  to  Val- 
paraiso. I  shall  be  returning  there  in  the  course  of  two  or 
three  days." 

Stephen  touched  his  hat  and  ran  below.  He  was  delighted 
at  the  prospect  of  his  first  command,  though  it  was  not  a  very 
important  one.  He  had  brought  the  best  of  his  chronometers 
with  him,  and  snatching  up  this,  his  quadrant,  and  a  pocket 
compass,  he  at  once  descended  the  ladder  to  the  boat,  which 
had  been  hailed  by  the  admiral  and  ordered  to  lie  there,  the 
petty  officer  who  commanded  being  transferred  to  another 
boat.  The  crew  consisted  of  twelve  men.  As  the  breeze  was 
off  shore  Stephen  ordered  the  masts  to  be  stepped  at  once,  and 


WRECKED  185 

the  two  lug-sails  hoisted.  The  crew  were  glad  to  escape  the 
labour  of  carrying  down  stores  from  the  fort  and  transporting 
them  to  the  ship,  and  sat  down  contentedly  in  the  bottom  of 
the  boat,  while  Stephen  himself  took  the  tiller.  The  brig  was 
hull-down  when  seen  from  the  boat,  and  Stephen  calculated 
that  she  was  six  or  seven  miles  out.  She  was  steering  south 
and  had  evidently  less  wind  than  that  which  was  taking  the 
cutter  fast  through  the  water.  He  made  his  course  to  a  point 
some  four  miles  south  of  the  brig,  so  as  to  cut  her  off,  and  it 
was  not  long  before  it  was  evident  to  him  that  he  should 
succeed  in  doing  so. 

They  were  within  two  miles  of  the  ship  when  he  saw  the 
sailors  talking  earnestly  together  and  looking  towards  the 
shore.  Glancing  round  he  saw  that  the  tops  of  the  hills  were 
enveloped  in  clouds,  a  sign,  as  experience  had  already  taught 
him,  of  the  approach  of  a  gale.  The  brig,  which  had  evi- 
dently not  noticed  the  boat,  had  also  observed  the  threatening 
aspect  of  the  clouds,  and  as  Stephen  again  looked  ahead, 
began  to  shorten  sail. 

"  Had  we  not  better  return?  "  one  of  the  Chilians  asked. 

"  Certainly  not,"  Stephen  said.  "  The  wind  is  against  us, 
and  the  storm  will  burst  before  we  could  get  back,  so  that  we 
should  be  much  better  off  in  that  brig  than  we  should  be  in 
this  open  boat.  Get  out  oars,  men,  and  help  her  along.  The 
wind  is  freshening  already.  If  it  rises  much  more  the  brig 
will  run  away  from  us." 

The  wind  indeed  got  up  rapidly,  and  the  oars  had  to  be 
laid  in  while  the  cutter  was  still  a  mile  off  from  the  brig.  She 
had  evidently  been  observed,  and  an  attempt  was  being  made 
to  hoist  some  of  the  upper  sails  that  had  been  lowered ;  but 
the  boat  was  now  flying  through  the  water,  and  in  a  quarter 
of  an  hour  ran  up  on  the  leeward  side  of  the  brig.  The  sails 
were  dropped,  the  bow  man  caught,  hold  of  the  chains  with 


186  WITH  COCHRANE  THE  DAUNTLESS 

his  boat-hook,  and  Stephen  and  the  rest  of  the  crew  at  once 
scrambled  on  board,  cutlass  in  hand. 

There  was,  however,  no  resistance.  The  crew  of  the  brig 
were  as  numerous  as  the  boarders,  but  the  successes  of  the 
Chilians  had  created  such  an  effect  that  the  captain  cried  out, 
as  they  leaped  on  board,  that  they  surrendered.  Stephen's 
first  order  was  to  get  the  cutter  up,  and  tackles  were  soon 
hooked  on  to  her,  and  she  was  raised  from  the  water  and  laid 
bottom  upwards  on  deck.  While  this  was  being  done  the 
Peruvian  crew  were  ordered  to  shorten  sail. 

It  was  none  too  soon,  for  the  brig  was  heeling  far  over,  and 
the  wind  momentarily  increasing  in  strength.  The  Chilians 
gave  a  cheer  as  soon  as  the  boat  was  safely  on  board,  and  in  a 
very  short  time  the  sail  was  reduced  to  double-reefed  top-sails. 
Under  these  and  a  storm-jib  she  was  laid  head  to  wind.  The 
sky  was  now  entirely  obscured,  the  land  was  no  longer  visible, 
and  the  sea  was  beginning  to  rise. 

"Is  it  going  to  be  a  heavy  gale,  do  you  think? "  Stephen 
asked  the  Peruvian  captain. 

"  Very  heavy,  I  think.  I  have  seen  it  coming  on  since  day- 
break, but  I  hoped  to  get  to  Callao  before  it  burst.  We  are 
heavily  laden,  and  in  no  state  for  facing  a  great  gale." 

"  What  have  you  on  board  ?  '.' 

"  Military  stores  and  ammunition." 

"Any  money?" 

"  I  believe  so,  senor.  There  are  twenty  boxes  sealed  up  in 
the  lazarette." 

"  Now,  tell  me  what  you  would  have  done  if  we  had  not 
captured  you?  You  know  your  ship  better  than  I  do.  Would 
you  lie-to  or  let  her  run  ?  ' ' 

"  I  should  put  her  before  the  wind,  senor,  and  at  once;  it 
will  be  dangerous  to  do  so  when  the  sea  gets  up." 

"  Well,  put  two  of  your  best  men  at  the  helm,  captain,  and 


WRECKED  187 

give  them  the  necessary  orders.  I  know  what  ought  to  be 
done,  but  I  do  not  know  enough  of  your  language  to  make  sure 
that  I  shall  not  make  a  mistake.  Man  the  braces,  all  hands, ' ' 
he  shouted.  "  Now,  obey  the  captain's  orders  as  if  they  were 
mine." 

The  manoeuvre  was  safely  executed,  and  the  brig  brought 
before  the  wind.  She  felt  the  relief  at  once,  and  sped  rapidly 
before  the  storm  on  an  even  keel. 

"  How  far  will  this  gale  extend  beyond  the  coast?  " 

"  There  is  no  saying,  senor.  An  ordinary  gale  will  seldom 
be  felt  above  a  hundred  or  a  hundred  and  fifty  miles;  but  a 
big  one,  as  this  will  I  think  be,  may  take  us  a  thousand  miles 
before  we  can  get  on  our  course  again." 

"  Are  there  any  dangers  to  be  feared?  " 

"  If  we  go  far  enough  we  may  get  among  some  islands ;  but 
on  the  course  that  we  are  steering  we  shall  run  some  hundreds 
of  miles  before  we  reach  them." 

"  You  have  got  a  chart,  I  suppose  ?  " 

"  I  have  a  chart  of  the  coast,  senor,  but  nothing  beyond. 
We  only  do  a  coasting  trade." 

"  Then  the  look-out  is  a  bad  one  if  the  wind  holds  like  this," 
Stephen  said.  "  However,  there  is  nothing  to  do  now." 

The  gale  continued  to  increase  in  violence,  and  in  a  couple 
of  hours  Stephen  ordered  the  main  topsail  to  be  lowered  on 
to  the  cap  and  there  secured.  It  was  a  dangerous  service,  and 
was  undertaken  by  the  Chilians,  who  are  far  more  handy  sailors 
than  the  Peruvians.  Stephen  felt  grateful  when  the  last  of 
them  stepped  on  to  the  deck  again.  Small  as  was  the  amount 
of  sail  that  was  now  spread,  the  brig  flew  before  the  wind  with 
alarming  rapidity,  the  sea  seeming  to  stand  up  on  each  side 
of  her.  The  foremast  bent  so  much  under  the  pressure  that 
Stephen  had  to  order  preventer-stays  to  be  rove.  These  were 
with  great  difficulty  and  risk  fastened  above  the  hounds  and 


188  WITH    COCHRANE    THE    DAUNTLESS 

taken  well  aft,  where  they  were  tightened  by  tackles,  and  the 
strain  on  the  mast  considerably  relieved. 

"  I  wish  we  could  get  down  that  upper  spar,"  he  shouted  to 
the  captain ;  "its  pressure  helps  to  keep  her  head  down." 

After  watching  it  for  some  minutes  he  ordered  the  stays 
and  runners  to  be  cut,  at  the  same  time  calling  all  hands  aft. 
Scarcely  had  the  men  gathered  there  than  the  vessel  plunged 
her  head  into  the  sea.  There  was  a  loud  report,  and  the  top- 
gallant mast  fell  over  her  bows  with  a  crash.  Two  of  the 
Chilians  with  axes  crawled  out  along  the  bowsprit  and  cut 
away  the  gear  that  held  the  spar  alongside,  and  the  wreckage 
at  once  floated  away.  The  jib-boom  was  then  got  in,  and 
the  vessel  felt  the  relief  and  lifted  her  head  more  buoyantly 
over  the  seas.  For  four  days  the  gale  continued,  her  bul- 
warks were  carried  away,  and  the  waves  swept  her  decks  con- 
tinually. One  tremendous  roller  carried  away  the  boats,  the 
caboose,  and  all  the  deck  fittings,  together  with  four  of  the 
Chilians  and  six  of  the  Peruvian  sailors.  The  straining  had 
opened  her  seams,  and  although  the  pumps  had  been  kept 
going  as  long  as  the  crew  had  been  able  to  work  at  them,  the 
water  had  been  gaining  steadily,  and  even  the  Chilians,  who 
had  kept  on  doggedly  long  after  the  Peruvians  had  thrown 
themselves  down  exhausted  and  hopeless,  now  ceased  what 
was  evidently  a  useless  labour. 

The  mainmast  had  been  cut  away,  and  was  towed  by  a  long 
hawser  from  the  stern,  thereby  aiding  to  keep  the  vessel  dead 
before  the  wind.  Stephen  felt  that  there  was  nothing  to  be 
done  but  to  wait  for  the  end.  There  were  no  materials  for 
making  a  raft,  and  indeed  the  constant  wash  of  the  seas  would 
have  rendered  the  task  an  almost  impossible  one,  even  had 
there  been  spars  at  hand;  but  a  raft,  could  one  have  been 
manufactured,  would  have  prolonged  life  but  for  a  few  hours. 
They  were  now,  he  calculated,  fully  a  thousand  miles  from  the 


WRECKED  189 

land,  and  there  was  no  chance  whatever  of  any  vessel  coming 
across  them  in  these  unfrequented  seas.  From  the  time  the 
gale  burst  upon  them  he  had  but  twice  thrown  himself  down 
for  a  short  sleep,  and  had  eaten  no  food  save  a  dry  biscuit  or 
two.  The  Peruvian  captain  agreed  with  him  that  the  vessel 
would  float  but  a  few  hours  longer.  She  rose  but  sluggishly 
upon  the  seas,  and  several  times  she  had  plunged  her  head  so 
deeply  into  them  that  Stephen  thought  that  she  was  going  to 
dive  bodily  down. 

Night  fell.  He  and  the  captain^lay  down  on  two  of  the 
sofas  aft,  while  the  crew  were  all  in  the  forecastle.  None 
expected  to  see  the  morning  light ;  but  Stephen  left  the  door 
open,  saying  to  the  captain: 

"It  will  make  no  difference;  but  I  should  rather  make  a 
struggle  for  my  life  before  I  die,  than  be  drowned  like  a  rat  in 
a  hole." 

The  Peruvian,  who  had  shown  much  cool  courage  during 
the  storm,  shrugged  his  shoulders. 

"  It  makes  no  difference,"  he  said,  as  he  rolled  a  cigarette 
and  lighted  it ;  "we  have  done  all  that  we  could.  As  for  me, 
I  would  as  lief  be  drowned  here  as  outside.  But  I  don't  think 
that  there  will  be  much  choice ;  we  shall  have  no  warning 
when  she  goes ;  she  will  plunge  down  head -foremost." 

Stephen  was  too  worn-out  to  reply,  but  he  felt  that  what 
the  captain  said  was  true.  But  even  the  thought  that  when  he 
woke  it  would  be  but  for  a  short  struggle  for  life  was  insuffi- 
cient to  keep  him  awake,  and  in  a  minute  or  two  he  dropped 
off  to  sleep.  How  long  he  slept  he  could  not  tell ;  he  was 
awakened  suddenly  by  a  tremendous  crash  that  threw  him  on 
to  the  floor.  He  struggled  to  his  feet  and  rushed  out  almost 
instinctively,  in  obedience  to  his  train  of  thought  before  sleep- 
ing. As  he  issued  out  of  the  poop  a  wave  poured  down  from 
above,  and  for  a  moment  he  shrunk  back.  He  was  conscious 


190  WITH    COCHRANE    THE    DAUNTLESS 

that  the  ship  was  fast.  There  was  no  longer  any  movement ; 
but  the  sea  struck  against  the  stern  with  a  force  that  made  the 
vessel  quiver.  As  to  going  forward  it  was  out  of  the  question, 
for  each  wave  swept  right  over  her.  The  Peruvian  had  joined 
him  at  the  door. 

"  Our  voyage  has  ended,  senor." 

"Yes,  as  far  as  the  ship  is  concerned;  but  if  she  holds 
together  until  morning  there  will  be  a  chance  of  getting 
ashore. ' ' 

As  he  spoke  a  great  wave  struck  the  vessel.  She  rose  on  it, 
moved  a  few  yards  further  forward,  and  then  fell  again  with  a 
crash  that  threw  them  both  off  their  feet. 

"  There  is  not  much  chance  of  that,"  the  Peruvian  said  as 
he  rose  again,  taking  up  the  conversation  at  the  point  at  which 
it  had  been  broken  ;  "  an  hour  or  two  will  see  the  end  of  her, 
perhaps  even  less." 

"It  felt  to  me  as  if  she  struck  all  over,"  Stephen  said, 
"and  I  should  think  she  is  on  a  flat  ledge  of  rock.  I  don't 
think  that  the  wind  is  blowing  as  hard  as  it  was  when  we  lay 
down.  There  are  some  stars  shining.  At  any  rate,  we  may  as 
well  go  in  again  and  wait.  We  should  only  be  swept  over- 
board if  we  tried  to  go  forward." 

He  turned  to  re-enter  the  cabin,  but  was  nearly  carried  off 
his  feet  by  a  torrent  of  water  that  swept  along  the  passage. 

"  That  last  wave  has  smashed  her  stern  in,"  he  said  to  the 
Peruvian;  "  we  must  stand  outside." 

They  seated  themselves  on  the  deck,  with  their  backs  to  the 
poop.  The  cataract  of  water  which  from  time  to  time  swept 
over  them  from  above,  fell  beyond  them  and  rushed  forward. 

"  Her  head  is  lower  than  her  stern,"  the  Peruvian  remarked. 
"  I  begin  to  think  she  may  hold  together  until  morning  ;  she 
has  not  lifted  again." 

It  seemed,  indeed,  as  if  the  storm  had  made  its  last  effort  in 


"THE  SHIP   FELL  WITH  A   CRASH   THAT  THREW  STEVE  AND  THE 
CAPTAIN   OFF  THEIR    FEET." 


WRECKED  191 

the  great  surge  that  had  shifted  the  vessel  forward.  For 
although  the  waves  still  struck  her  with  tremendous  force,  and 
they  could  hear  an  occasional  rending  and  splintering  of  the 
timbers  astern,  she  no  longer  moved,  although  she  quivered 
from  end  to  end  under  each  blow,  and  worked  as  if  at  any 
moment  she  would  break  into  fragments. 

"The  foremast  has  gone,"  Stephen  said  presently.  "I 
suppose  it  went  over  her  bows  when  she  struck.  I  am  afraid 
none  of  the  men  have  escaped.  I  can't  make  out  the  head  of 
the  vessel  at  all." 

"They  may  have  been  washed  ashore;  but  it  is  probable 
that  the  fall  of  the  mast  imprisoned  them,"  the  captain  said; 
"  and  as  the  stern  is  raised  a  good  many  feet,  they  must  have 
been  drowned  at  once.  Poor  fellows,  there  were  some  good 
men  among  them." 

"  I  wish  we  had  had  them  all  aft,"  Steve  exclaimed  in  a 
tone  of  deep  regret.  "  Of  course,  we  never  thought  of  this ; 
and  indeed  there  was  but  small  room  for  them  in  your  little 
cabin.  It  seemed  that  death  would  come  to  us  all  together, 
and  that  their  chances  in  the  fo'c's'le  were  as  hopeless  as  ours 
in  the  stern  cabin." 

"It  is  the  will  of  God,"  the  Peruvian  said  philosophically ; 
"  and  it  is  probable  their  turn  has  come  only  a  few  hours 
before  ours." 

They  sat  silently  for  a  long  time.  At  last  Stephen  said : 
"  The  sea  is  certainly  going  down,  and  I  can  make  out  the 
outlines  of  the  land.  I  think  day  will  soon  be  breaking.  We 
must  have  slept  a  good  many  hours  before  she  struck. ' ' 

He  took  out  his  watch,  but  it  was  too  dark  to  see  the  face. 
He  opened  the  case  and  felt  the  position  of  the  hands  :  "It 
is  half-past  three,"  he  said.  "  In  another  half-hour  we  shall 
have  light  enough  to  see  where  we  are." 

Gradually  the  dawn  spread  over  the  sky,  and  they  could 


192  WITH    COCHRANE    THE    DAUNTLESS 

make  out  that  the  shore  was  some  three  hundred  yards  away, 
and  that  trees  came  down  almost  to  the  water's  edge.  They 
lay  at  the  mouth  of  a  small  bay.  As  the  captain  had  sup- 
posed, the  ship's  bows  were  under  water,  and  only  a  few  inches 
of  the  top-gallant  fo'c's'le  were  to  be  seen.  Another  half- 
hour  and  the  sun  was  up.  Long  before  this  Stephen  had  ex- 
plored the  wreck  astern.  Several  feet  had  been  torn  off,  and 
the  water  flowed  freely  in  and  out  of  the  cabin.  It  was 
evident  that  the  ship  had  been  carried  on  the  crest  of  the  great 
wave  beyond  the  highest  point  of  the  reef  across  the  mouth  of 
the  bay,  and  to  this  fact  she  in  some  degree  owed  her  preserva- 
tion, as  the  waves  broke  some  twenty  yards  astern  of  her,  and 
so  spent  a  considerable  portion  of  their  force  before  they  struck 
her.  Looking  astern,  the  sea  was  still  extremely  heavy,  but  it 
no  longer  presented  the  angry  appearance  it  had  done  on  the 
previous  day.  The  wind  had  almost  dropped,  the  waves  were 
no  longer  crested  with  white  foam. 

"In  an  hour  or  two  we  shall  be  able  to  get  ashore,"  Stephen 
said.  ' '  We  have  been  saved  well-nigh  by  a  miracle,  captain. ' ' 

"  Saved  so  far,"  the  captain  said  ;  "  but  we  cannot  say  yet 
what  is  in  store  for  us.  These  islands  are,  for  the  most  part, 
inhabited  by  savage  natives,  who  will  make  short  work  of  us 
if  we  fall  into  their  hands." 

"  Well,  we  must  hope  for  the  best,"  Stephen  said.  "  We 
have  been  preserved  so  far,  and  we  may  trust  we  shall  be  pre- 
served through  other  dangers.  As  soon  as  the  sea  goes  down 
we  must  haul  the  foremast  alongside,  cut  away  the  ropes,  and 
drift  ashore  on  it.  It  would  be  no  great  distance  to  swim 
now,  but  there  is  no  hurry,  and  we  had  best  find  out  whether 
we  cannot  get  hold  of  some  provisions.  I  see  there  are  some 
boxes  and  casks  on  the  shore ;  I  suppose  they  have  been  washed 
out  of  the  stern.  One  of  the  first  things  will  be  to  get  some 
arms. ' ' 


WRECKED  193 

"  There  are  several  cases  of  muskets  down  in  the  hold,"  the 
captain  said,  "  and  a  large  quantity  of  ammunition,  but  it  will 
be  a  difficult  business  to  get  at  it. ' ' 

"We  shall  have  plenty  of  time,"  Stephen  said,  "that  is, 
if  the  natives  do  not  interfere  with  us.  However,  the  first 
thing  is  to  find  something  to  eat,  for  I  am  half  famished. ' ' 

"  I  have  no  doubt  we  shall  find  something  in  the  steward's 
cabin,"  the  captain  said.  "  Fortunately  it  is  the  first  inside 
the  door,  and  has  not  shared  the  fate  of  the  stern  cabin.  If 
Jacopo  had  slept  there  last  night,  instead  of  going  forward 
with  the  crew,  he  would  have  been  saved  also." 

They  opened  the  door  of  the  cabin,  and  uttered  an  exclama- 
tion of  surprise  as  they  saw  the  steward  quietly  asleep  in  his 
bunk. 

"Why,  Jacopo,  you  lazy  rascal,"  the  captain  shouted,  "  I 
have  just  been  mourning  for  you,  and  here  you  are,  sleeping 
as  quietly  as  if  you  were  safe  in  port. ' ' 

The  man  sat  up  with  an  air  of  bewilderment.  "  Why,  what 
has  happened,  captain  ?  "  he  asked.  "  The  sun  is  shining,  and 
there  is  no  motion.  I  did  not  think  to  see  the  morning." 

"  Oh,  you  rascal !  "  the  captain  said,  pointing  to  an  empty 
bottle  lying  in  the  bunk,  "  you  thought  that  it  was  all  over, 
and  so  you  emptied  one  of  my  bottles  of  aguardiente,  and 
have  slept  like  a  hog  all  night. ' ' 

"Pardon  me,  captain,"  the  man  said,  with  a  shamefaced 
expression  ;  "  everyone  said  that  the  ship  could  not  live  until 
morning,  so  I  thought  I  would  take  a  good  drink  so  as  to 
know  nothing  about  it." 

"And   you  did   not   feel  even  the  crash   when   we   were 
wrecked  ?  ' ' 

"  Wrecked!  "  the  man  repeated,  as  he  ran  to  the  door; 
"  are  we  wrecked  after  all  ?  "  He  uttered  a  cry  of  horror  as 
he  looked  round. 


194  WITH    COCHRANE    THE    DAUNTLESS 

"  It  might  have  been  worse,"  the  captain  said  ;  "  at  least 
we  three  have  been  saved,  though,  in  your  case,  you  are  far 
from  deserving  it.  Now,  look  about  and  do  your  duty.  We 
want  breakfast ;  see  you  get  it,  and  quickly,  and  I  will  say 
nothing  more  about  that  bottle  of  spirits  you  stole.  Now, 
what  have  you  got  here  ?  ' ' 

"  Two  fine  hams,  captain,  and  some  bunches  of  onions,  and 
half  a  barrel  of  flour,  and  some  salt  beef  and  a  skin  of  wine." 

"  Not  so  bad,"  the  captain  said.  "  Well,  make  a  fire  and 
do  us  some  slices  of  ham  ;  are  there  any  biscuits  left  ?  " 

"  Yes,  captain,  there  is  half  a  barrel." 

"  Then  we  will  make  shift  with  the  biscuit  and  the  ham ; 
but  see  that  you  are  quick  about  it,  for  this  English  officer  and 
I  are  both  famished." 

"Where  am  I  to  make  a  fire,  captain?  the  caboose  is 
gone." 

"  Never  mind  about  that;  the  iron  plate  is  still  fixed  to  the 
deck,  make  up  your  fire  on  that.  Look  about  in  the  other 
cabins  and  break  up  anything  that  will  supply  you  with  wood. 
Now,  seftor,  we  will  get  off  the  after  hatch  while  this  rascal 
is  cooking  breakfast,  and  have  a  look  at  the  state  of  things 
below." 

"  I  am  afraid  we  shall  find  most  of  the  cargo  cleared  out," 
Stephen  said. 

"  No,  I  do  not  think  so.  There  is  a  strong  bulkhead  just 
below  where  we  are  standing.  The  things  you  see  on  shore 
were  in  the  small  hold  under  the  cabin  that  was  used  for  the 
ship's  stores,  while  the  main  contains  the  cargo.  We  got  at 
the  lazarette  from  a  hatch  under  the  table  of  the  cabin.  It 
was  not  convenient,  but  it  was  an  advantage,  having  a  separate 
place  when  we  loaded  up  with  hides,  and  there  was  no  fear  of 
the  sailors  getting  at  the  things.  We  did  not  carry  a  great 
store — five  or  six  barrels  of  flour,  a  few  sacks  of  potatoes  and 


WRECKED  195 

onions,  a  barrel  or  two  of  biscuits,  and  a  couple  of  casks  of 
salted  meat,  a  barrel  of  coffee  and  one  of  sugar." 

"  Well,  then,  in  that  case  the  sea  has  saved  us  the  trouble  of 
getting  them  on  shore,  captain,  for  there  are  at  least  a  dozen 
casks  of  one  kind  or  another  on  the  beach.  Now,  really  the 
principal  things  are  the  arms.  If  we  get  up  a  case  of  a  dozen 
muskets  and  a  barrel  of  ammunition  we  shall  do.  Of  course, 
they  will  be  at  the  bottom. ' ' 

"  Yes,  above  them  are  bales  of  soldiers'  clothes.  They  will 
be  too  heavy  for  us  to  lift  out.  They  were  heavy  enough 
when  they  were  dry,  and  the  three  of  us  could  not  lift  them 
out,  sodden  as  they  must  be  with  water." 

' '  Then  we  must  get  up  a  sort  of  derrick.  There  are  plenty 
of  blocks  and  ropes  on  that  foremast.  The  difficulty  will  be 
about  light  spars.  We  shall  have  to  go  ashore  and  cut  down 
two  or  three  young  trees  to  make  our  tripod  with. 

"  I  think,  captain,  we  had  better  make  up  our  minds  to  live 
on  board  until  we  have  got  this  job  done.  There  is  less  fear 
of  our  being  attacked  by  natives,  and  we  could  do  nothing 
in  the  way  of  searching  for  game  until  we  get  something  to 
shoot  it  with.  We  must  make  a  raft  of  some  sort  for  coming 
backwards  and  forwards  with.  There  are  plenty  of  bits  of 
timber  on  the  beach  that  will  do  for  that." 

Breakfast  was  greatly  enjoyed,  and  it  was  not  until  an  hour 
afterwards  that  the  sea  was  sufficiently  smooth  for  them  to 
begin  their  preparations  for  landing.  The  foremast  was 
dragged  alongside,  the  shrouds  cut  away,  and  the  running 
rigging  unrove  and  coiled  on  deck  ready  for  future  use.  A 
couple  of  coils  were  fastened  to  the  mast,  and  late  in  the  after- 
noon the  captain  and  Stephen  swam  ashore,  taking  with  them 
the  end  of  one  of  the  coils,  while  Jacopo  remained  on  board 
to  pay  out  the  other,  so  that  until  the  main  raft  was  made  the 
mast  could  be  towed  backwards  and  forwards.  As  soon  as 


196  WITH    COCHRANE   THE    DAUNTLESS 

they  were  on  shore  they  hauled  at  their  rope  and  brought  the 
mast  to  the  beach.  Then  they  set  to  work  examining  the 
casks.  As  the  captain  had  predicted,  most  of  the  contents  of 
the  lazarette  had  been  cast  up,  and  they  found  that  they  had  an 
ample  supply  of  food  to  last  them  for  some  months.  The  mast 
had  towed  so  easily  that  they  agreed  that  it  would  be  the  best 
way  to  use  it  as  the  main  portion  of  their  raft.  They  dragged 
pieces  of  timber  close  to  the  mast  and  lashed  them  side  by  side 
there,  so  as  to  form  a  platform  some  three  feet  wide  on  each 
side  of  it,  the  length  varying  trom  four  to  twelve  feet,  accord- 
ing to  that  of  the  pieces  of  timber. 

Having  accomplished  this,  after  two  or  three  hours'  hard 
work,  they  took  their  places  on  it,  and  shouted  to  Jacopo, 
who  hauled  them  back  to  the  side  of  the  wreck.  They  had 
fastened  one  end  of  the  other  rope  to  a  tree,  and  at  daylight 
next  morning  they  again  landed,  and  proceeded  with  their 
knives  to  cut  down  three  young  trees  of  some  four  inches  in 
diameter.  This  took  them  the  best  part  of  the  day.  The 
heads  were  then  cut  off,  leaving  three  stout  poles  of  some  four- 
teen feet  in  length,  and  with  these  they  returned  to  the  ship, 
taking  with  them  a  bag  of  coffee-berries  and  a  supply  of  sugar. 
They  had  found  on  breaking  open  the  cask  that  the  sugar  was 
somewhat  damaged  by  the  sea-water,  but  this  had  not  pene- 
trated far,  and  by  drying  and  repounding  that  touched  by  the 
water,  no  great  harm  would  have  been  done.  The  next 
morning  the  shears  were  erected,  and  they  set  to  work.  It 
took  them  two  days'  labour  before  they  could  clear  enough  of 
the  cargo  out  to  get  at  the  cases.  They  were  not  troubled 
much  by  water,  for  at  the  stern-post  there  was  but  a  depth  of 
four  feet  on  the  reef,  while  at  her  bows  there  was  nearly 
twenty.  Working  as  they  did  at  the  after-hatchway,  there 
were  but  five  feet  of  water  below,  and  the  uppermost  tier  of 
cases  was  consequently  above  the  water-level.  The  barrels  of 


WRECKED  197 

cartridges  were  still  further  on,  and  it  was  the  fourth  day  be- 
fore they  were  reached. 

Three  of  these  barrels  were  got  up,  and  when  two  cases  of 
muskets  had  been  opened,  the  weapons  cleaned,  and  made 
ready  for  service,  they  felt  a  sense  of  security  to  which  they 
had  been  strangers  since  they  arrived  at  the  island.  There 
was  now  an  urgent  matter  to  be  attended  to.  Hitherto  they 
had  drunk  wine  at  their  meals,  but  the  contents  of  the  skins 
were  getting  very  low,  and  it  had  become  absolutely  neces- 
sary that  they  should  without  delay  search  for  water.  As 
there  were  hills  of  some  size  in  the  interior,  they  felt  confident 
that  there  must  be  plenty  to  be  found.  The  great  point  was 
whether  it  would  be  in  the  neighbourhood,  or  at  a  distance  from 
the  ship.  This  was  a  vital  question,  for  useful  as  their  raft  was 
for  coming  and  going  between  the  wreck  and  the  shore,  it  was 
far  too  heavy  and  clumsy  for  transporting  their  valuables  any 
distance ;  and  without  hatchets  or  carpenters'  tools  they  could 
not  construct  a  raft  by  breaking  up  the  deck,  and  the  cutting 
down  of  trees  with  their  pocket-knives  was  not  to  be  thought  of. 

Accordingly  the  three  set  out  on  foot  one  morning,  each 
carrying  a  musket  and  a  store  of  ammunition,  a  portion  of 
cooked  ham,  and  some  biscuits,  together  with  a  bottle  con- 
taining the  last  of  their  stock  of  wine.  When  they  rounded 
the  point  of  the  little  bay  they  gave  a  shout  of  satisfaction,  for 
but  fifty  yards  away  a  small  stream  flowed  from  the  forest 
across  the  sand  into  the  sea. 

"What  a  pity  we  did  not  search  for  this  before,"  Stephen 
said,  as  throwing  themselves  down  each  scooped  a  hole  in  the 
sand,  and  took  a  long  drink  of  the  fresh  water.  "  We  could 
have  saved  our  wine  for  some  special  occasion." 

They  agreed  at  once  to  follow  the  stream  up,  as  by  this 
means  they  would  leave  no  trace  of  footmarks,  and  might  be 
able  to  find  some  suitable  spot  for  an  encampment. 


198  WITH    COCHRANE   THE    DAUNTLESS 

CHAPTER   XI 

A   DANGEROUS   COMPANION 

rpHEY  had  gone  but  a  few  hundred  yards  up  the  stream 
1  when  they  heard  the  sound  of  a  waterfall,  and  presently 
they  came  upon  a  perpendicular  cliff  some  eighty  feet  high, 
over  the  edge  of  which  the  water  fell  unbrokenly. 

"  It  would  be  a  splendid  place  to  camp  at  the  edge  of  this 
pool,"  the  captain  said.  "  We  should  have  our  bath  always 
ready  at  hand,  and  even  on  the  hottest  days  it  would  be  cool 
in  the  shade  of  the  trees." 

"It  would  not  be  a  nice  place  to  be  caught  by  the  na- 
tives," Stephen  said.  "Even  if  we  fortified  ourselves,  they 
would  only  have  to  get  up  above  and  throw  rocks  down 
at  us." 

The  Peruvian  regarded  this  risk  as  trifling  in  comparison 
with  the  advantages  of  the  situation.  Stephen,  however, 
determined  to  climb  to  the  top  of  the  cliff,  and  examine  the 
position  there  ;  so  leaving  the  others  lying  in  indolent  enjoy- 
ment by  the  pool,  he  set  to  work  to  find  a  way  up.  He  had 
to  go  fully  a  quarter  of  a  mile  along  the  foot  of  the  cliff  before 
he  could  find  a  place  where  it  could  be  ascended.  Once  on 
the  crest,  he  followed  the  edge  back  until  he  came  to  the  top 
of  the  waterfall.  To  his  surprise  he  found  that  this  flowed 
almost  directly  from  a  little  lake  of  some  three  hundred  yards 
in  diameter.  For  about  fifteen  yards  from  the  fall  on  either 
side  the  rock  was  bare ;  and  although  the  level  of  the  little 
lake  was  some  three  feet  below  it,  Stephen  had  no  doubt  that 
in  the  case  of  a  heavy  tropical  rain  the  water  would  rush 
down  from  the  hills  faster  than  the  gap  through  which  it  fell 


A   DANGEROUS   COMPANION  199 

below  could  carry  it  off,  and  that  at  such  a  time  it  would 
sweep  over  the  rock  on  either  side,  and  fall  in  a  torrent  thirty 
yards  wide  down  into  the  pool. 

The  view,  as  he  stood  on  the  patch  of  bare  rock,  was  a 
striking  one.  The  tree  -  tops  of  the  forest  between  the  cliff 
and  the  shore  were  almost  level  with  his  feet,  some  of  the 
taller  trees  indeed  rising  considerably  higher  than  the  ground 
on  which  he  stood.  Beyond,  a  wide  semicircle  of  sea  ex- 
tended, broken  by  several  islands,  some  small,  others  of  con- 
siderable size.  Behind  him  the  ground  rose,  in  an  appar- 
ently unbroken  ascent,  to  a  hill,  which  he  judged  to  be  some 
three  or  four  miles  away. 

"  This  would  be  a  grand  place  for  a  hut,"  he  said  to  him- 
self. "  Of  course  we  could  not  put  it  on  the  rock,  for  we 
might  be  swept  away  by  a  sudden  flood,  and  besides  there 
would  be  no  shade.  But  just  inside  the  edge  of  trees  we 
should  do  splendidly." 

He  found,  in  fact,  that  at  a  distance  of  twenty  yards  from 
the  edge  of  the  bare  rock  it  was  but  the  same  distance  from 
the  edge  of  the  pool  to  the  brow  of  the  cliff. 

"We  could  only  be  attacked  on  one  side  here,"  he  said. 
"  And  though  we  could  not  cut  down  the  trees,  we  might 
make  a  defence  with  creepers  twined  in  and  out  among  the 
trunks  that  would  be  quite  sufficient  against  a  sudden  attack  ; 
and  with  such  a  store  of  muskets  as  we  have  got  we  might 
keep  a  whole  tribe  at  bay.  The  question  is  how  to  get  the 
casks  and  things  up  here." 

Going  to  the  edge  he  found  that  one  of  the  trees  had  a 
large  arm  overhanging  the  cliff. 

"  By  fixing  a  block  there,"  he  said,  "  we  might  bring  them 
up  from  below  without  difficulty." 

Looking  over,  he  shouted  to  the  two  men  below. 

"I  have  found  a  place  here,"  he  said,  "where  we  can 


200  WITH    COCHRANE    THE    DAUNTLESS 

make  ourselves  very  comfortable,  and  with  a  little  labour  de- 
fend ourselves  from  any  number  of  savages. ' ' 

"How  can  we  get  the  things  up?"  the  captain  shouted 
back. 

"Easily  enough.  We  have  but  to  fix  a  block  to  the  arm 
of  this  tree  over  my  head,  and  we  can  then  run  them  up 
without  difficulty.  Come  up,  captain.  You  will  see  at  once 
the  advantages  of  the  position." 

In  a  quarter  of  an  hour  the  Peruvian  captain  joined  him, 
and,  when  Stephen  explained  his  plan,  agreed  that  it  was  a 
good  one. 

"As  you  say,"  he  said,  "we  can  only  be  attacked  along 
this  narrow  place,  and  we  could  strengthen  it  so  that  they 
would  hardly  venture  to  try  it."  He  broke  off  suddenly. 
"  There  are  two  cases  of  swords  in  the  hold.  I  never 
thought  of  them  before.  They  might  not  be  much  good  for 
cutting  trees,  but  they  would  do  for  chopping  down  bushes, 
and  especially  those  long  creepers,  which,  being  as  tough  as 
cables,  would  blunt  our  knives  in  no  time.  If  I  remember 
rightly,  the  cases  were  stowed  just  under  the  barrels  of  ammu- 
nition we  got  out,  so  there  won't  be  much  trouble  in  getting 
at  them." 

"That  would  be  first-rate,"  Stephen  said.  "As  there  is 
nothing  to  do  now,  we  had  better  go  back  to  the  ship,  and 
get  one  of  the  cases  out  at  once.  When  we  have  done  that, 
we  can  begin  the  work  of  rolling  the  barrels  along  the  sand  to 
the  stream." 

"  It  will  be  terrible  work  getting  them  to  the  foot  of  the 
cliff,"  the  captain  said. 

"  Yes,  too  heavy  altogether.  We  must  knock  the  heads  in 
on  the  shore,  fill  the  contents  into  the  sacking  that  holds  the 
clothes,  carry  them  on  our  backs  to  the  foot  of  the  falls,  and 
then  sling  them  up.  There  are  any  number  of  bales,  so  that 


A    DANGEROUS    COMPANION  201 

they  can  remain  up  here  until  we  get  the  empty  barrels  up, 
and  fill  in  the  stuff  again.  It  will  be  time  enough  to  set  to 
work  at  our  fence  when  we  have  got  everything  up." 

A  week  later  they  were  established  in  their  new  camp. 
The  sugar,  coffee,  and  other  articles  were  all  repacked  in  the 
casks,  which  were  headed  up  again  to  protect  them  from  the 
weather  and  the  assaults  of  insects,  portions  sufficient  for  a 
week's  consumption  only  being  left  out.  The  labour  had  been 
great,  but  the  Peruvian  captain  seconded  Stephen's  efforts 
well.  The  steward,  however,  grumbled  frequently,  and  had 
many  times  to  be  spoken  to  sharply  by  the  captain.  Another 
week  was  spent  in  fortifying  the  position.  Young  trees  were 
cut  down  and  stuck  in  the  earth  two  feet  apart  in  the  inter- 
vals between  the  trees.  A  wattle-work  of  the  tough,  thorny 
creepers  was  interwoven  across  the  little  promontory,  eight 
feet  high.  This  was  painful  work,  for,  however  careful  they 
were,  they  frequently  tore  their  hands  with  the  spikes. 

When  this  was  done  a  similar  defence  was  made  along  at 
the  edge  of  the  water  to  within  a  short  distance  of  the  falls. 
This  was  carried  to  the  height  of  five  feet  only.  A  tent  had 
been  erected  with  canvas  brought  from  the  wreck,  thrown 
over  a  pole,  fixed  between  two  trees,  and  in  a  smaller  one  by 
its  side  the  barrels  were  stowed. 

"Now,  captain,"  Stephen  said,  as  they  spent  a  day  in 
absolute  rest  after  their  labours,  "  there  is  one  more  thing  to 
be  done." 

"What  is  that,  senor  ?  " 

"  It  is  that  gold.  You  said  there  were  five  hundred  thousand 
dollars,  which  comes  to  a  hundred  thousand  pounds  in  our 
money.  That,  as  we  know,  is  lying  safely  in  the  stern,  for 
we  looked  the  day  after  the  wreck.  So  long  as  it  is  there  it 
is  safe  enough,  but  the  next  storm  that  comes  will  certainly 
smash  up  the  wreck  altogether,  and  the  boxes  may  be  swept 


202  WITH    COCHRANE    THE    DAUNTLESS 

into  the  deep  water  between  her  and  the  shore.  Now  at  the 
present  moment  we  may  consider  that  gold  to  be  common 
property.  If  a  Spanish  ship  ever  comes  here  she  will,*  of 
course,  capture  it ;  if,  on  the  other  hand,  an  English  or  a  Chil- 
ian vessel  arrives,  I  shall  hand  it  over  to  them  as  their  law- 
ful prize.  If  neither  of  them  come,  which  is  most  likely  by 
far,  it  is  worth  nothing  to  anyone.  I  think  we  ought  to  get 
it  ashore,  and  bury  it  in  the  sand  above  high-water  mark." 

"  I  think  that  that  would  be  a  very  good  plan,"  the  captain 
agreed.  "  We  may  manage  in  time  to  get  away  somehow, 
and  even  if  we  cannot  take  it  all,  we  might  take  some  of  it. 
There  will  be  no  great  trouble  in  getting  it  ashore.  The 
boxes  weigh  a  hundred  pounds  each.  There  are  twenty  of 
them,  and  the  raft  would  take  them  in  three  or  four  journeys. 
If  we  make  an  early  start,  we  ought  to  get  the  job  done 
easily  enough  in  a  day.  The  gold  is  of  no  use  to  us  now ; 
but  we  may  be  here  for  years,  and  if  it  is  long  before  we  get 
away,  the  Spaniards  may  be  driven  out  of  Peru  as  they  have 
been  out  of  Chili.  Your  admiral  will  have  gone  home.  There 
will  be  no  one  to  claim  the  treasure  ;  the  Spanish  government 
has  lost  it,  the  Chilian  has  never  gained  it,  and  it  will  be  a  sort 
of  windfall  that  we  can  with  a  clear  conscience  divide  between 
ourselves." 

"  If  you  don't  mind,  captain,  I  think  that  it  would  be  a 
very  good  plan  to  say  nothing  whatever  to  Jacopo  about 
this  business  of  the  gold.  I  own  I  don't  like  the  fellow.  In 
the  first  place,  he  is  abominably  lazy,  and  never  does  anything 
like  his  share  of  the  work ;  in  the  second  place,  to  my  mind 
he  is  an  evil-looking  scoundrel.  I  don't  want  to  deprive  him 
of  a  share  of  the  money  if  the  time  ever  comes  when  we  may 
talk  of  dividing  it,  but  in  the  meantime  there  is  no  reason 
why  he  should  know  it  has  been  moved.  That  day  when  we 
examined  it  and  found  it  was  safe,  I  noticed  an  evil  look  come 


A    DANGEROUS    COMPANION  203 

into  his  eyes,  and,  unless  I  am  greatly  mistaken,  the  idea 
struck  him  that  if  he  were  to  rid  himself  of  us,  he  would  be 
master  of  all  that  treasure.  There  will  be  no  difficulty  in 
carrying  out  the  matter  without  his  knowing  it.  When  we 
were  moving  the  stores  he  often  remained  behind  under  the 
pretence  of  cooking,  and  we  have  only  to  say  that  we  are  going 
to  overhaul  the  cargo  and  see  if  we  can  find  anything  else  that 
may  be  useful  to  us  some  day,  and  he  will  be  glad  enough  to  be 
left  in  charge  here." 

"  I  think  that  you  are  right,"  the  captain  agreed.  "  I  have 
no  reason  to  doubt  Jacopo's  honesty,  still  the  thought  of  so 
much  wealth,  although  it  is  of  no  more  value  here  than  so 
much  sand,  may  excite  his  avarice.  Many  a  man's  throat  has 
been  cut  in  Peru  for  a  score  of  dollars  or  less,  and  it  is  just  as 
well  not  to  put  any  temptation  in  the  fellow's  way.  You  and 
I  at  the  present  moment  would  exchange  all  that  gold  for  a 
stout  twenty-feet  boat,  well  provisioned ;  but  to  him  it  would 
be  simply  wealth  beyond  his  dreams,  and  it  is  just  as  well  not 
to  put  any  ideas  into  his  mind  by  ever  mentioning  fhe  stuff 
before  him." 

The  gold  was  brought  on  shore  and  buried  in  the  sand  at 
the  foot  of  a  tall  tree  standing  just  beyond  the  highest  water- 
mark. The  work  took  them  two  days,  as  some  time  was  spent 
in  making  a  further  search  in  the  cargo,  from  which  was  fished 
up  a  bail  of  linen  trousers  and  coats,  which  formed  the  undress 
uniform  during  the  heat  of  summer.  Some  shoes  were  also 
found,  and  Stephen  and  the  captain  returned  to  the  fort,  each 
laden  with  a  large  bundle.  Stephen  was  especially  glad  at  the 
discovery  of  the  light  clothes.  Those  in  which  he  had  started 
on  the  chase  of  the  brig  were  so  shrunk  with  sea  water  as  to 
be  almost  unwearable,  and  he  had  been  going  about  in  Spanish 
uniform,  which  he  found  most  uncomfortably  hot.  He  was 
almost  barefooted,  and  the  shoes  were  even  more  highly 


204  WITH    COCHRANE   THE    DAUNTLESS 

prized  than  the  light  clothing.  The  captain  had  also  lost  all 
his  effects,  but  Jacopo  had  saved  his  scanty  wardrobe. 

"  We  are  now  prepared  for  everything,"  Stephen  said.  "  I 
don't  think  shipwrecked  mariners  were  ever  better  set  up. 
We  have  clothes  sufficient  for  a  lifetime,  a  great  stock  of 
weapons  and  ammunition,  and  provisions  enough  for  a  couple 
of  months  at  least.  The  last  is  our  weakest  point,  I  admit. 
But  there  is  the  whole  island  as  a  hunting-ground.  We  must 
begin  and  set  to  work  to  explore,  captain.  The  ham  has  gone 
long  ago,  and  I  have  been  longing  for  some  time  for  a  change 
from  salt  meat ;  besides,  we  want  sbme  fruit  or  vegetables 
badly.  We  have  stuck  to  work  well,  and  deserve  a  holiday. 
The  first  thing  to  do  will  be  to  climb  to  the  top  of  the  hill  and 
get  some  idea  of  the  size  of  the  island.  I  begin  to  think  that 
it  cannot  be  inhabited,  for  if  it  had  been  they  would  surely 
have  discovered  the  wreck  before  now." 

"That  is  not  certain,"  the  captain  replied.  "It  may  be 
a  large  island,  and  the  villages  may  lie  on  the  other  side. 
However,  we  have  certainly  grounds  for  hope  that  we  have  got 
it  all  to  ourselves.  One  thing  I  am  anxious  to  find  is  some 
sheltered  spot  or  cave  where  we  can  pass  the  rainy  season. 
The  place  where  we  now  are  is  charming  in  such  weather 
as  this,  that  is  for  ten  months  in  the  year  ;  but  it  is  not  a 
perch  I  should  choose  in  such  a  gale  as  that  which  cast  us 
ashore. ' ' 

"No;  it  would  certainly  be  unpleasant.  I  should  not 
think  there  is  much  chance  of  our  finding  a  cave  except  on 
the  sea-shore — caves  are  by  no  means  common  articles.  How- 
ever, we  shall  no  doubt  be  able  to  light  on  some  sheltered 
place  where  we  can  take  up  our  abode  during  the  rain.  But, 
first  of  all,  we  must  find  out  whether  the  island  is  really  un- 
inhabited ;  there  will  be  all  sorts  of  things  to  do  as  soon  as  we 
can  assure  ourselves  of  that. 


A   DANGEROUS   COMPANION  205 

"  I  should  be  rather  glad  of  one  good  gale,  captain — a  gale 
strong  enough  to  break  up  the  vessel  altogether.  Of  course, 
it  has  been  a  perfect  treasure-house  to  us,  but  I  never  go  on 
board  without  a  shudder  at  the  thought  of  the  fo'c's'le  just 
below  the  level  of  the  water. ' ' 

"  It  is  no  more  than  standing  at  the  edge  of  a  graveyard," 
the  captain  said  philosophically. 

"  Yes,  that  is  true,  and  I  know  that  even  if  we  could  have 
got  at  them  the  first  day,  taken  them  ashore  and  buried  them, 
it  would  have  been  an  unpleasant  business." 

"Very,"  the  Peruvian  agreed;  "  things  have  turned  out 
for  the  best — they  are  buried  at  sea  instead  of  being  buried  on 
land.  For  myself,  my  regret  that  the  ship  did  not  lie  on  an 
even  keel  was  not  because  we  could  have  got  at  the  bodies 
and  buried  them,  but  because  in  there  we  should  have  found 
many  things  that  would  have  been  useful.  We  should  prob- 
ably have  got  an  axe  or  two,  some  tools,  canvas,  needles, 
and  twine,  all  of  which  would  have  been  very  valuable  to 
us." 

"Well,  all  the  same,  captain,  I  shall  be  glad  when  a  gale 
knocks  the  ship  to  pieces.  Besides,  as  long  as  she  is  there 
she  would  be  seen  at  once  by  any  canoe  coming  along  on  this 
side  of  the  island,  and  on  going  on  board  the  natives  would 
see  that  some  of  the  crew  must  have  survived,  and  that  things 
have  been  brought  up  and  taken  ashore ;  then  there  would 
be  sure  to  be  a  search  after  us." 

"Yes,  you  are  right  there,  senor  ;  I  had  not  thought  of 
that.  No  doubt  it  is  desirable  that  she  should  disappear." 

' '  Do  you  think  that  we  could  blow  her  up,  captain  ?  There 
is  plenty  of  powder  on  board. ' ' 

The  Peruvian  shook  his  head.  "  We  could  shatter  her, 
but  portions  would  still  remain  sticking  up  above  water,  and 
the  explosion  would  be  heard  fifty  miles  round,  and  the  cloud 


206  WITH    COCHRANE    THE    DAUNTLESS 

of  smoke  be  seen  from  all  the  islands  within  that  distance, 
and  there  would  soon  be  canoes  coming  to  see  what  had  caused 
it.  No ;  it  will  be  best  to  let  her  remain  as  she  is  until  she 
breaks  up  with  the  first  gale." 

The  next  morning  they  started,  taking  Jacopo  with  them. 
The  captain  proposed  leaving  him  behind,  but  Stephen  pointed 
out  that  if  left  alone  for  a  long  day  the  man  might  not  im- 
probably swim  off  to  the  ship  to  assure  himself  that  the  gold 
was  still  in  its  position. 

"He  might  do  that,"  the  captain  agreed;  "but,  like 
most  of  his  class,  he  is  superstitious,  and  I  doubt  whether  he 
would  go  on  board  the  wreck  alone.  Still,  it  will  be  better  to 
take  him  with  us.  It  is  certain  that  there  is  no  fear  of  our 
hut  being  disturbed  during  our  absence,  and  if  we  should 
come  upon  natives  three  of  us  are  better  than  two." 

It  took  them  four  hours  to  reach  the  summit  of  the  hill, 
the  undergrowth  of  creepers  being  so  dense  that  they  were 
often  compelled  to  cut  a  way  through  it.  At  last  they 
reached  the  summit ;  as  they  did  so  they  stopped  in  surprise. 
Before  them  was  a  cup-shaped  depression  some  two  hun- 
dred yards  across,  the  centre  being  a  hundred  feet  below  the 
edges. 

"It  is  the  crater  of  an  old  volcano,"  the  Peruvian  said  ; 
"it  is  ages  since  it  was  active,  so  that  we  need  have  no  fear 
or  uneasiness  on  that  score." 

The  interior  was  clothed  with  verdure.  Here  and  there 
black  crags  showed  through  the  foliage,  but  elsewhere  all  was 
smooth  and  smiling.  The  slope  was  regular,  and  it  was  evi- 
dent that,  as  the  captain  said,  long  ages  had  gone  by  since 
there  had  been  any  disturbance.  Vegetation  had  grown  up 
and  died,  until  a  soil  thick  enough  to  conceal  all  the  rocks, 
that  had  at  one  time  no  doubt  thickly  strewn  the  bottom,  had 
been  buried. 


A    DANGEROUS    COMPANION  207 

"What  is  that  down  in  the  centre?"  Stephen  said. 
"  There  seems  to  be  a  patch  clear  of  trees,  and  there  are  some 
figures  of  some  kind  there.  See,  on  the  other  side  what 
looks  like  a  regular  path  has  been  cut  through  the  trees  and 
bushes.  Perhaps  it  is  a  burying-place ;  at  any  rate  we  will 
go  and  see. " 

They  walked  round  to  the  other  side  of  the  crater.  From 
there  they  could  obtain  a  view  of  the  side  of  the  island  oppo- 
site to  that  on  which  they  had  landed.  It  was  far  less  ex- 
tensive than  they  had  expected,  the  hill  sloping  steeply 
down,  and  the  sea  was  but  a  quarter  of  a  mile  away.  A  great 
number  of  islands  studded  the  ocean,  and  some  of  those  at  a 
distance  appeared  considerably  larger  than  that  upon  which 
they  had  been  cast. 

"Thank  goodness,"  Stephen  exclaimed,  "the  island  is 
evidently  uninhabited ;  now  we  can  wander  about  freely." 

"Yes;  we  might  have  saved  ourselves  all  the  trouble  of 
fortifying  that  position,"  the  captain  said. 

"  It  gave  us  something  to  do,  captain,  and  did  us  good  in 
that  way.  Besides,  parties  of  natives  from  the  other  islands 
may  land  here  sometimes.  Now  let  us  go  down  and  explore 
the  crater. ' ' 

They  descended  the  path  and  soon  stood  in  the  bottom  of 
the  crater.  This  they  saw  was  a  veritable  graveyard.  In 
the  centre  was  a  rough  structure  built  of  large  stones  sloping 
inwards,  and  forming  a  rough  representation  of  a  hut.  They 
had  evidently  been  placed  there  centuries  before,  for  they 
were  green  with  age;  lichens  and  mosses  grew  upon  them, 
and  here  and  there  small  shrubs  sprang  up  in  the  crevices. 
What  had  once  been  an  entrance  was  closed  with  a  great  flat 
slab  of  rock.  Round  this  central  cairn  were  some  eight  or 
ten  smaller  ones. 

These  were  evidently  of  comparatively  recent  origin,  and 


208  WITH    COCHRANE    THE    DAUNTLESS 

one  of  them  was  surrounded  by  a  hedge  of  spears,  on  some 
of  which  hung  pieces  of  tattered  cloth  of  native  manufact- 
ure. Round  the  central  hut  were  arranged  four  figureheads 
of  ships  ;  while  in  a  circle  stood  a  number  of  the  hideous 
idols  carried  by  many  of  the  South  Sea  Islanders  in  their  war- 
canoes. 

"  I  should  say  that  this  accounts  for  the  island  being  unin- 
habited," Stephen  said.  "  I  suppose  there  are  still  traditions 
of  this  having  been  a  volcano,  and  that  the  mountain  and 
perhaps  the  whole  island  is  sacred,  and  only  used  as  a  burial- 
place  for  some  very  great  chiefs." 

He  went  across  to  the  grave  surrounded  by  spears. 

"  Here,"  he  said,  "  are  a  dozen  skeletons  piled  together — 
sacrifices,  I  suppose,  on  the  tomb  of  a  chief.  If  it  had  not 
been  for  these  spears  and  skeletons,  I  should  have  said,  from 
the  appearance  of  the  cairns,  that  they  must  all  be  at  least  a 
hundred  years  old,  perhaps  a  great  deal  more." 

"  All  the  better,"  the  Peruvian  said.  "  I  hope  it  will  be 
a  hundred  years  before  they  come  to  bury  anyone  else  here. ' ' 

"  They  must  come  here  a  good  deal  oftener  than  that," 
Stephen  said.  "  These  gods  of  theirs  are  all  new,  or  at  any 
rate  freshly  painted.  Besides,  the  place  is  evidently  kept  with 
some  care ;  and  I  should  think  very  likely  the  people  of  the 
other  islands  make  pilgrimages  here  once  a  year  or  so  to  offer 
sacrifices  to  the  god  supposed  to  reside  in  that  central  cairn, 
and  to  keep  his  house  in  order.  I  think  that  we  cannot  do 
better  than  follow  this  path  back  and  see  where  it  goes  to. 
It  may  not  extend  beyond  the  crater  ;  but  if  it  continues 
through  the  forest  down  to  the  shore  it  will  be  evident  that  it 
has  recently  been  visited,  for  things  grow  so  fast  in  a  climate 
like  this  that  in  a  year  a  path  would  be  completely  blocked 
up  by  vegetation.  Where  is  Jacopo  ?  " 

"There  he  is  at  the  top  of  the  crater  ;  he  did  not  come 


A    DANGEROUS    COMPANION  209 

down  with  us,  and  no  doubt  considered  that  the  place  was 
likely  to  be  haunted  by  spirits." 

They  ascended  the  path  to  the  top  of  the  crater.  The 
ground  here  was  bare  for  a  short  distance,  and  Stephen  saw 
that  two  lines  of  stones  marked  the  course  of  the  path  to 
the  trees.  It  did  not  lead  down  towards  the  sea,  but  was 
carried  obliquely  round  the  top  of  the  hill  until  it  reached  the 
edge  of  the  forest  on  the  side  of  the  island  on  which  they  had 
landed.  Two  rude  images  marked  the  spot  where  it  entered 
the  forest.  It  now  led  down  in  a  direct  path  six  feet  wide. 
This  was  completely  clear  of  shrubs,  and  not  the  smallest  shoot 
of  brushwood  showed  above  the  soil.  Wherever  the  ground 
descended  steeply  rude  steps  had  been  cut ;  the  trees  on  each 
side  of  the  path  had  been  barked  on  the  side  facing  it.  Here 
and  there  sticks,  some  ten  feet  high,  with  pieces  of  coloured 
cloth  hanging  from  them,  stood  along  the  side  of  the  path. 
The  path  itself  was  almost  like  a  trough,  the  centre  being 
fully  two  feet  lower  than  the  general  level. 

"  It  must  be  used  very  frequently,"  the  Peruvian  said, 
"  and  has  probably  been  used  for  ages.  No  doubt  in  the 
rainy  season  the  water  helps  to  hollow  it  out,  but  the  work 
must  have  been  begun  by  human  feet." 

Jacopo  kept  closely  behind  the  others,  crossing  himself 
frequently  and  muttering  invocations  to  the  saints.  They 
followed  the  path  until  it  came  out  at  the  head  of  a  deep 
inlet. 

"  It  is  a  useful  road  to  the  top  of  the  hill,"  Stephen  said. 
"  It  has  not  taken  us  more  than  three-quarters  of  an  hour 
coming  down,  while  we  were  six  times  as  long  in  going  up, 
and  hard  at  work  all  the  time.  Look  there  ;  there  is  no  mis- 
take as  to  the  numbers  who  come  here,"  and  he  pointed  to 
the  patches  of  ashes  and  charred  wood  scattered  thickly  on  the 
sand  above  the  water-line,  all  along  the  edge  of  the  inlet. 


210          WITH  COCHRANE  THE  DAUNTLESS 

"  There  can  be  no  doubt  about  that,"  the  Peruvian  said  ; 
"  the  place  must  be  constantly  visited,  or  at  any  rate  by  a 
great  number  at  a  time.  However,  I  don't  know  whether 
that  need  disturb  us.  They  evidently  go  straight  up  to  wor- 
ship or  sacrifice  and  come  straight  down  again,  and  all  that 
we  have  got  to  do  is  not  to  fire  a  gun  when  they  are  on  the 
island.  However,  we  may  as  well  look  along  the  shore  to  see 
if  there  are  any  further  paths  into  the  forest. ' ' 

They  examined  carefully,  but  could  see  no  signs  that  the 
natives  had  gone  inland  at  any  other  point. 

"  We  may  as  well  go  along  the  shore  now,"  Stephen  said; 
"  then  we  shall  see  how  far  this  inlet  is  from  our  bay." 

They  were  turning  to  start  when  there  was  a  rustle  among 
the  undergrowth,  followed  by  a  short,  deep  sound.  Jacopo 
dropped  his  musket  and  fell  on  his  knees.  The  captain 
crossed  himself  hastily ;  but  Stephen  dashed  forward  towards 
the  spot  where  the  sound  had  come,  shouting  : 

"  Come  along,  captain,  it  is  a  pig." 

There  was  a  rush  as  he  entered  the  bushes,  and  a  dozen 
pigs  dashed  off.  He  levelled  his  musket  and  fired  at  the 
hindmost,  and  gave  a  shout  of  delight  as  it  rolled  over. 

"Fresh  meat,  captain,"  he  exclaimed  as  the  Peruvian 
joined  him  ;  "  and  there  are  at  least  a  dozen  others  who  have 
made  off.  Hurrah  !  there  is  no  fear  of  starving  ;  we  may  be 
sure  that  this  is  not  the  only  herd  on  the  island." 

The  pig  was  dragged  out  on  to  the  sea  -  shore ;  it  was  a 
young  animal,  although  nearly  full  grown.  Jacopo  was  now 
in  his  element ;  he  cut  the  pig  open,  eviscerated  it,  carried 
it  down  to  the  edge  of  the  water,  washed  it,  tied  the  legs 
together,  and  with  his  sword  cut  down  a  sapling  and  thrust 
it  through  them. 

"We  will  carry  the  pig,  sefior,  as  you  shot  him.  That  is 
but  a  fair  division  of  labour,"  the  captain  said,  raising  one  end 


A   DANGEROUS   COMPANION  211 

of  the  pole  on  his  shoulder,  while  Jacopo  took  the  other. 
They  had  gone  but  a  hundred  yards  further  when  the  trees 
near  the  beach  grew  less  densely,  and  the  ground  beneath 
them  was  covered  by  a  plant  with  large  leaves  and  yellow 
flowers.  Stephen,  who  was  walking  ahead,  went  up  to  ex- 
amine them. 

"  Hurrah,  captain  !  "  he  shouted,  "they  are  wild  melons." 

The  others  laid  down  the  pig  and  ran  up  to  him.  The 
patch  extended  as  far  as  they  could  see ;  the  plants  covered  the 
ground  and  climbed  the  trees  by  means  of  the  rattans,  festoon- 
ing them  with  their  bright  leaves  and  flowers  and  fruit  of  all 
degree  of  ripeness.  On  the  ground  they  found  no  ripe  fruit. 
There  were  evident  signs  that  this  was  a  favourite  resort  of  the 
pigs,  and  that  they  devoured  the  fruit  as  fast  as  it  ripened. 

"We  will  fence  in  a  large  patch  of  this,"  Stephen  said; 
"  there  will  be  plenty  for  the  pigs  and  us  too.  I  never  felt 
thankful  that  a  pig  could  not  climb  before,"  he  laughed,  as  he 
cut  a  melon  hanging  overhead.  Although  somewhat  wanting 
in  flavour  the  fruit  seemed  to  the  three  men,  after  their  priva- 
tion for  upwards  of  a  month  from  green  vegetables  or  fruit, 
to  be  delicious.  "  How  do  you  suppose  that  it  got  here, 
captain?  " 

' '  The  seed  may  have  been  carried  by  birds  from  some  place 
where  melons  are  cultivated,"  trie  captain  said  ;  "  possibly 
even  from  the  mainland.  I  have  heard  that  seeds  are  carried 
immense  distances  in  that  way.  It  may  be  that  some  seeds 
were  washed  overboard  from  a  passing  ship  and  some  were 
cast  ashore  here.  I  do  not  care  how  they  came  here,  I  am 
well  contented  to  find  them." 

"  We  will  carry  away  the  seeds  of  those  we  eat  and  plant 
them  near  our  camp,"  said  Stephen;  "we  shall  soon  get  a 
supply  without  having  to  come  here  to  fetch  them.  Besides, 
these  will  attract  the  pigs  and  enable  us  to  get  fresh  meat 


212  WITH    COCHRANE    THE    DAUNTLESS 

without  having  the  trouble  of  scrambling  through  the  forest, 
and  tearing  ourselves  and  our  clothes  to  pieces  with  thorns." 

They  cut  as  many  melons  as  they  could  carry  in  addition  to 
the  pig,  and  then  proceeded  on  their  way.  They  followed  the 
shore  but  a  quarter  of  a  mile  further,  when  to  their  satisfaction 
they  found  themselves  at  the  bay  at  the  mouth  of  which  the 
wreck  was  lying,  and  in  another  half-hour  they  were  at  home. 

"  We  are  certain  to  see  boats  coming,"  Stephen  said,  as  he 
stood  at  the  edge  of  the  cliff  and  looked  out  over  the  sea, 
"  unless  they  come  from  some  of  the  islands  on  the  other  side 
and  coast  round  to  their  landing-place.  But  on  the  other 
hand,  there  is  the  disadvantage  that  as  they  come  in  to  the 
inlet  they  can  hardly  help  seeing  the  wreck.  We  must  make 
it  a  rule  when  we  go  down,  to  walk  in  the  stream  until  we  get 
to  the  edge  of  the  sea,  and  then  to  keep  along  on  the  wet 
sand  where  our  footprints  will  disappear  directly.  In  that 
way  they  would  have  no  clue  whatever  to  the  direction  in 
which  to  look  for  us." 

"  Yes,  it  would  be  as  well  to  observe  that  precaution,"  the 
Peruvian  said.  "  When  we  once  get  a  melon  patch  here  we 
shall  not  have  any  reason  to  go  down  there  very  often.  We 
have  got  everything  we  want  from  the  wreck,  and  we  have  all 
the  coast  along  to  the  left  to  explore,  where  we  may  make 
some  useful  discoveries." 

Two  days  later  they  again  went  to  the  sea  -  shore  and 
followed  it  to  the  left,  leaving  Jacopo  this  time  behind.  They 
had  gone  but  a  mile  when  they  came  upon  a  thorny  bush 
covered  with  fruit,  which  the  Peruvian  pronounced  to  be 
guavas  ;  they  ate  some  of  these  and  then  proceeded  on  their 
way,  and  before  long  came  upon  a  group  of  trees  bearing  a 
fruit  considerably  larger  than  an  orange.  Stephen  had  seen 
these  when  cruising  on  his  first  voyage  among  the  islands,  and 
pronounced  them  to  be  bread-fruit. 


A    DANGEROUS    COMPANION  213 

"Let  us  go  no  further,"  the  Peruvian  said;  "we  have 
found  enough  good  things  for  one  day,  let  us  leave  the  rest 
for  to-morrow." 

Stephen  laughed.  "At  any  rate,  it  is  a  good  excuse  for  get- 
ting back  again ;  and  indeed  I  am  quite  ready  to  do  so,  for  I 
have  a  strong  desire  to  see  what  Jacopo  has  been  up  to  in 
our  absence,  and  would  be  willing  to  make  a  wager  with  you 
that  we  don't  find  him  at  the  hut." 

They  gathered  a  quantity  of  the  bread-fruit  and  passed  the 
guava  bush  reluctantly. 

"  We  must  set  to  work  to  make  a  basket,  captain,"  Stephen 
said;  "  we  want  such  a  thing  badly.  We  can  each  make  a 
good  -  sized  bag  out  of  sacking,  which  will  do  very  well  for 
melons  and  bread-fruit,  but  we  want  something  that  we  can 
carry  things  like  guavas  in  without  crushing  them." 

On  their  return  to  the  camp  they  found,  as  Stephen  ex- 
pected, that  Jacopo  was  absent,  and  at  once  set  out  along  the 
edge  of  the  cliff  until  they  reached  the  point  at  which  they 
obtained  a  view  into  the  bay.  The  wreck  lay  apparently 
deserted. 

"  Let  us  sit  down  and  watch,"  Stephen  said ;  "  he  may  not 
have  reached  it  yet.  No,  there  he  is."  As  he  spoke,  a  figure 
came  out  from  the  door  of  the  poop.  "  Just  as  I  thought, 
captain.  He  has  gone  down  to  see  if  the  gold  is  there.  Look 
at  him."  Jacopo  was  evidently  furious;  they  could  see  him 
waving  his  arms  and  stamping  angrily  on  the  deck,  and  then 
he  went  to  the  side  and  shook  his  fist  in  the  direction  of  the 
tent. 

"  That  fellow  is  dangerous,  captain,"  Stephen  said  gravely. 

The  captain  nodded. 

"  The  safest  plan  will  be  to  shoot  him  at  once." 

"No,  we  cannot  do  that;  we  had  better  tell  him  frankly 
to-night  that  we  have  moved  the  gold  and  buried  it,  lest  the 


214  WITH    COCHRANE    THE    DAUNTLESS 

vessel  should  go  to  pieces  in  a  storm,  that  we  intend  to  give  it  up 
to  any  Spanish  or  Chilian  ship  that  may  come  here  ;  but  that 
if  it  is  a  long  time  before  we  are  rescued  we  shall  then  divide 
the  gold  between  us,  and  that  he  will  get  a  fair  share  of  it." 

"  It  would  be  better  to  shoot  him,"  the  captain  said.  "You 
were  right,  it  is  evident  that  he  has  been  thinking  over  that 
money,  and  that  as  likely  as  not  he  has  determined  to  possess 
the  whole  of  it.  However,  we  shall  see  how  he  behaves.  I 
may  as  well  tell  him  as  soon  as  he  arrives ;  when  he  sees  that 
we  mean  fair  by  him  he  may  possibly  be  content,  at  any  rate 
for  a  time,  especially  as  he  must  know  as  well  as  we  do  how 
small  is  the  chance  of  a  ship  coming  along.  We  are  altogether 
out  of  the  line  of  traffic.  Ships  going  round  the  Horn  keep 
far  south  of  this  on  their  way  to  China,  while  those  for  Peru 
and  Chili  keep  up  the  coast;  and  there  is  no  traffic  at  all 
from  Peru  or  Chili  to  China  or  India. ' ' 

"  Now  that  we  have  everything  we  want  here,  captain,  and 
know  that  we  can  hold  on  for  a  long  time,  we  ought  to  begin 
to  think  over  our  plans  for  the  future.  If  we  had  tools  we 
could  certainly  build  a  craft  that  would  carry  us  to  Chili ;  but 
it  would  be  a  terrible  business  to  build  one  with  nothing  but 
our  swords  to.  cut  down  trees,  hew  out  the  timbers,  and  shape 
planks.  Still,  if  there  is  nothing  else  to  be  done  we  must  do 
that.  It  is  only  a  matter  of  time  and  patience,  and  we  shall  find 
that  the  hours  hang  very  heavy  on  our  hands  when  all  our 
necessary  work  is  done  here.  I  should  think  that  we  ought 
to  be  able  to  build  a  craft  of  twenty  tons  in  a  couple  of  years 
at  the  outside ;  at  any  rate,  I  can  think  of  no  other  plan  for 
getting  away." 

"  I  have  been  thinking  that  we  might  steal  a  canoe  when 
the  natives  come  here,"  the  Peruvian  said. 

"  I  daresay  we  might,  captain ;  but  if,  as  is  probable,  they 
come  in  large  canoes,  three  of  us  would  make  but  very  little 


A    DANGEROUS    COMPANION  215 

speed  with  one  of  them,  and  we  should  be  pursued  and  over- 
taken in  no  time.  You  may  be  sure  that  they  don't  spend 
the  night  up  on  the  hill,  and  probably  when  they  go  up  they 
will  leave  some  of  their  number  on  the  beach  to  look  after  the 
canoes,  and  cook.  But  even  if  we  did  get  away  we  could  do 
nothing  with  such  a  canoe." 

"  I  don't  know,"  the  captain  said;  "we  might  land  with 
her  on  some  small  island,  fit  a  deep  keel  on  to  her,  and  get  up 
a  couple  of  masts  and  lug-sails,  which,  of  course,  we  should 
make  beforehand." 

"  Yes,  we  might  do  that,"  Stephen  agreed  ;  "  but  the  diffi- 
culty of  carrying  off  the  boat  would  be  immense.  And  besides, 
she  would  have  to  be  victualled  ;  we  should  have  to  take  food 
and  water  for  a  long  journey.  And  to  get  our  barrels  filled 
with  fresh  water  on  board  would  be  a  long  task,  and  utterly 
impossible  to  carry  out  in  the  short  time  that  we  should  have 
to  spare,  even  if  the  beach  was  entirely  deserted." 

"  Yes,  I  see  it  is  very  difficult,"  the  captain  agreed  ;  "  but  I 
would  not  mind  running  the  risk  rather  than  undertake  two 
years'  hard  labour." 

"  I  would  not  mind  running  the  risk  either,  captain,  if  I  saw 
any  probability  of  success,  but  I  own  that  this  seems  an 
impossibility.  However,  it  may  be  that  sometimes  a  small 
party  comes  alone,  and  that  we  could  get  possession  of  a 
canoe  of  manageable  size.  At  any  rate,  we  may  as  well  prepare 
for  such  a  chance  before  setting  to  work  to  build.  We  have 
plenty  of  canvas  from  the  fore- topgallant  sail  and  head-sails 
of  the  brig,  and  can  make  a  couple  of  lug-sails  fit  for  a  large 
canoe  and  a  couple  for  a  smaller  one,  and  get  the  spars  ready  ; 
that  would  not  take  us  a  great  deal  of  time,  and  if  a  bit  of 
luck  does  fall  in  our  vay  we  should  be  ready  to  avail  ourselves 
of  it.  That  fellow  has  swam  ashore  now,  so  we  had  better  be 
going  back  to  the  hut." 


216  WITH    COCHRANE    THE    DAUNTLESS 

A  quarter  of  an  hour  after  they  reached  it  Jacopo  appeared. 
He  stopped  in  surprise  when  he  saw  them. 

"So  you  have  been  off  to  the  wreck,  Jacopo,"  the  captain 
said.  "  We  found  as  much  fruit  as  we  could  carry,  and  have 
brought  it  straight  back  again  ;  and  finding  that  you  had  gone 
we  went  along  the  cliff  and  saw  you  on  the  deck.  I  suppose 
you  went  off  to  see  if  the  gold  was  all  safe.  We  have  seen  to 
that ;  we  did  not  like  to  leave  it  there,  for  the  ship  will  break 
up  in  the  first  gale,  and  the  boxes  might  be  swept  into  the 
deep  water  and  be  lost,  so  we  carried  it  ashore.  The  gold, 
you  know,  is  not  ours,  it  is  the  property  either  of  the  Spanish 
or  the  Chilian  government,  and  we  shall  hand  it  over  to  the 
first  ship  of  either  of  these  nations  that  may  come  along.  If, 
however,  as  is  likely  enough,  no  ship  comes  near  the  island 
for  years,  and  the  Spanish,  as  may  well  be,  have  by  that 
time  lost  their  possessions  on  the  west  coast  altogether,  we 
may  then  consider  it  to  be  ours,  and  if  we  get  away  we  propose 
to  divide  it  into  three  equal  shares.  As  officers  we  have  a 
right  to  a  larger  share  than  you ;  but  we  have  agreed  that  if 
you  do  your  work  here  with  us  willingly  and  cheerfully  we 
shall  not  stand  on  our  rights,  but  shall  give  you  an  equal  por- 
tion of  it  with  ourselves.  At  present  the  gold  is  of  no  more 
value  to  any  of  us  than  so  much  sand,  beyond  the  fact  that  if 
we  build  a  craft,  as  the  senor  and  I  have  been  talking  of  do- 
ing, the  boxes  will  be  found  excellent  ballast,  otherwise  it  is 
not  worth  a  thought  either  way. ' ' 

"  You  are  very  good,  senor,"  Jacopo  said  humbly,  "  and  I 
can  promise  that  you  shall  have  no  reason  to  complain  of  me  ;" 
and  without  another  word  he  turned,  cut  off  a  portion  of  the 
pig  that  was  hanging  from  a  bough  near,  and  proceeded  to 
prepare  a  meal. 

"I  hope  that  that  has  made  the  matter  all  right,"  the 
Peruvian  said  in  a  low  voice  to  Stephen ;  "  but  we  must  watch 


DEATH   OF   THE   CAPTAIN  217 

him  closely  for  a  short  time  and  see  how  he  goes  on.  If  he 
looks  at  the  matter  sensibly  he  must  see  that,  as  I  said,  the 
gold  is  of  no  value  to  any  of  us  at  present." 

'•'He  spoke  too  humbly  altogether  in  my  opinion,"  said 
Stephen  ;  "  but  as  it  is  evident  that  so  long  as  we  are  here  our 
interests  are  all  alike,  and  that  the  three  of  us  will  have  a 
better  chance  of  escape  than  one  would  alone,  he  may  give  up 
all  thought  of  the  gold  until  the  time  approaches  for  us  to 
make  a  start. ' ' 

The  next  day  they  went  down,  unlaced  the  fore-topgallant 
sail  from  its  yard  where  it  lay  on  the  beach,  upon  which  it  had 
been  washed  up  after  they  had  stripped  the  mast,  and  pro- 
ceeded to  cut  from  it  two  lug-sails,  so  as  to  save  themselves 
the  trouble  of  carrying  the  entire  canvas  up  to  the  tent. 


CHAPTER  XII 

DEATH   OF   THE   CAPTAIN 

THE  work  of  making  up  the  sails  occupied  the  next  three 
days.  Some  of  the  canvas  was  unravelled  for  use  as 
twine,  and  holes  were  made  with  long,  sharp  thorns.  Jacopo, 
when  not  engaged  in  cooking,  worked  diligently,  seldom 
joining  in  the  conversation  between  the  captain  and  Stephen, 
a  conversation  which  turned  principally  upon  the  best  method 
of  building  and  launching  the  proposed  boat.  Stephen's  pro- 
posal was  that  they  should,  if  possible,  first  get  up  the  deck 
planks,  which  could  be  done  by  driving  wedges  between  them 
and  the  beams,  and  after  one  was  taken  up,  the  work  of  the 
wedges  could  be  aided  by  poles  used  as  levers.  When  all  the 
planks  had  been  taken  up  as  far  forward  as  the  water  would 
permit  them  to  work,  he  proposed  to  blow  up  the  after -part  of 


218  WITH    COCHRANE    THE    DAUNTLESS 

the  ship,  by  which  means  they  would  obtain  a  large  amount  of 
beams  and  timbers  that  could  be  utilized  for  the  boat,  at  much 
less  cost  of  labour  than  would  be  entailed  by  the  cutting  down 
of  trees.  He  proposed  that  the  explosion  should  take  place  at 
night,  as  the  roar  and  flash  would  be  supposed  by  the  natives 
of  the  islands  near  to  be  something  supernatural  connected 
with  the  spot  evidently  held  in  such  veneration. 

"  Even  were  they  to  row  across  to  see  if  anything  had  taken 
place,"  he  said,  "  which  is  about  the  last  thing  that  they  would 
be  likely  to  do,  they  would  no  doubt  make  for  their  usual 
landing-place ;  and  as  the  greater  portion  of  the  ship  above 
water  would  have  disappeared,  anything  that  remained  would 
not  be  likely  to  catch  their  eye." 

He  calculated  that  if  the  plan  succeeded  they  ought  to  be 
able  to  build  a  boat  of  the  required  size  in  six  months  at  the 
outside.  The  preparation  of  the  planking  had  been  the  most 
arduous  portion  of  the  plan  they  had  first  laid  out,  and  this 
would  be  done  away  with  altogether;  and  as  the  nails  would 
doubtless  draw  out  of  the  planks,  and  they  would  obtain  plenty 
of  bolts  and  fastenings  from  the  fragments  of  the  wreck,  the 
building  of  their  boat  was  now  comparatively  simple,  and 
Stephen  even  fancied  that  they  might  complete  it  in  four 
months.  No  word  was  spoken  as  to  the  gold,  but  Stephen 
felt  that  a  difficulty  might  finally  arise  out  of  it.  He  himself 
considered  it  as  a  lawful  prize  for  the  Chilian  government ;  but 
the  Peruvians  were  two  to  one  against  him,  and  although  they 
might  have  no  desire  to  return  it  to  the  Spaniards,  who  were 
detested  by  the  great  majority  of  Peruvians,  they  might  set  up 
a  claim  to  it  on  their  own  account.  However,  he  dismissed 
the  idea  from  his  mind  as  one  that  must  be  left  to  be  de- 
termined by  circumstances. 

For  a  month  they  laboured  assiduously.  The  planks  were 
successfully  taken  up,  and  then,  after  much  consideration, 


DEATH    OF   THE    CAPTAIN  219 

preparations  were  made  for  blowing  up  the  vessel.  The 
powder  barrels  were  brought  up,  fuses  were  made,  each  six 
feet  long,  passing  from  barrel  to  barrel,  and  the  chain  of 
barrels  was  laid  from  the  stern  to  the  point  where  the-deck 
was  level  with  the  water.  This  plan  was  adopted  in  order 
that  the  whole  fabric  should  be  shaken  and  broken  up,  while, 
had  the  whole  force  of  the  explosion  taken  place  at  one  point, 
it  would  have  entirely  destroyed  the  timber  there,  while 
perhaps  leaving  a  considerable  portion  still  standing  above 
the  water. 

The  success  of  the  explosion  was  complete,  and  in  the 
morning  there  was  no  sign  of  the  ship  above  water,  while  the 
bay  was  covered  with  floating  wreckage.  It  took  some  time 
to  collect  this  and  bring  it  to  shore,  and  then  to  tow  it  to  the 
spot  they  had  decided  upon  as  being  best  suited  for  the  launch. 
It  was  near  the  point  of  the  bay,  and  the  beach  here  sloped 
more  steeply  than  elsewhere. 

Their  first  work  was  to  erect  a  platform  sloping  still  more 
steeply,  and  covered  with  pieces  of  timber  too  short  for  other 
work.  The  craft  would  thus  be  built  at  an  angle  which  would 
ensure  her  sliding  down  into  the  water,  and  during  the  prog- 
ress of  building  she  could  be  retained  in  her  place  by  ropes 
fastened  to  a  tree  behind,  and  by  blocks  of  wood  under  her 
stern-post.  Among  the  timbers,  one  was  found  long  enough 
to  serve  as  a  keel,  and  when  this  was  laid  down,  and  the  stern- 
post  and  stem  were  fitted  to  it  and  securely  bolted,  they  felt 
that  the  most  difficult  part  of  the  work  was  done.  Great 
labour  was  required  to  get  out  the  copper  bolts  from  the 
timbers,  and  in  some  cases  the  wood  had  to  be  split  up  before 
they  could  be  extracted.  The  work  of  getting  out  the  ribs, 
and  fastening  them  in  their  places,  was  much  less  arduous 
than  they  had  expected,  for  the  greater  portion  of  the  timbers 
of  the  brig  had  come  on  shore,  and  among  these  they  were  able 


220  WITH    COCHRANE    THE    DAUNTLESS 

to  find  many  with  curves  fairly  suited  to  their  requirements. 
Some  required  hacking  off  with  cutlasses,  while  on  to  others 
pieces  of  planks  were  nailed  to  get  the  required  curve.  By 
the  -end  of  five  months  the  hull  was  planked  and  decked,  and 
all  felt  proud  of  their  work.  It  was  caulked  with  oakum 
obtained  from  some  of  the  least  serviceable  of  the  ropes  of  the 
brig,  dipped  in  a  resin  that  they  found  oozing  from  some 
trees. 

The  fore-topmast  of  the  brig  furnished  a  suitable  mast,  and 
was  stepped  and  stayed ;  a  bowsprit,  boom,  and  gaff  were  con- 
structed from  the  light  spars ;  a  mainsail,  a  foresail,  and  jib  had 
been  manufactured  during  the  long  evenings ;  and  when  the 
boat  was  completely  rigged,  the  timbers  down  which  she  was 
to  glide  were  smeared  with  lard,  and  carried  down  as  far  as 
possible  under  water,  being  kept  in  their  places  by  heavy 
stones  placed  on  the  ends.  It  was  a  great  day  when  the  shores 
were  knocked  away,  the  ropes  that  held  her  stern  being  previ- 
ously cast  off,  and  she  at  once  moved  rapidly  down  into 
the  water  amid  a  shout  of  triumph  from  her  constructors.  She 
drew  about  three  feet  of  water,  and  they  calculated  that  when 
they  had  got  the  ballast,  stores,  and  water  on  board  she  would 
sink  another  foot,  and  would  then  have  three  feet  of  free-board. 

They  had  already  laid  in  a  large  stock  of  pork,  which  they 
had  salted,  obtained  the  salt  by  filling  pools  in  the  rock  with 
salt  water,  which  was  replenished  as  fast  as  it  evaporated.  A 
great  stock  of  melons  had  also  been  cut.  The  barrels  had 
been  carefully  examined,  and  placed  in  the  lake  to  swell  and 
become  water  -  tight.  Now  that  the  boat  was  once  in  the 
water  they  were  anxious  to  be  off  without  the  smallest  pos- 
sible delay,  for  were  the  natives  to  appear  just  at  this  moment 
all  their  labours  would  be  thrown  away.  As  soon,  therefore, 
as  they  had  gone  on  board,  and  found  that  the  craft  was  per- 
fectly water  -  tight,  they  hauled  her  towards  the  spot  where 


"WITH  A  SHOUT,     STEPHEN   SNATCHED  UP   HIS  SWORD  AND   RUSHED 
AT  THE  ASSASSIN." 


DEATH    OF    THE    CAPTAIN  221 

they  had  buried  the  gold,  dug  up  the  boxes,  and  carried 
them  down  to  the  water's  edge.  The  boat  was  then  hauled 
in  until  she  was  in  four  feet  of  water.  Stephen  and  Jacopo 
waded  out,  carrying  the  boxes  on  their  heads,  then  the  cap- 
tain lifted  them  on  board,  and,  taking  them  below,  packed 
them  along  her  keel. 

By  this  time  it  was  late  in  the  afternoon,  and  they  cal- 
culated that  by  beginning  at  daybreak,  they  would  get  the 
greater  portion  of  their  stores  and  water  on  board  next  day. 
It  was  a  moonlight  night,  and,  after  indulging  in  supper  and 
a  long  talk  over  the  next  day's  work,  they  lay  down  to  sleep. 

It  was  some  time  before  Stephen  fell  into  a  light  sleep, 
being  too  excited  at  the  thought  of  their  approaching  deliver- 
ance to  compose  himself  to  a  sound  slumber.  He  was  awa- 
kened by  a  slight  movement,  and,  turning  round,  saw  in  the 
moonlight  Jacopo  kneeling  by  the  captain  with  a  knife  up- 
lifted. With  a  shout  Stephen  sprung  up,  grasped  his  sword, 
which  he  had,  ever  since  the  gold  was  hidden,  placed  by  his 
side  when  he  lay  down,  and  rushed  at  the  Peruvian.  The 
knife  had,  however,  descended  twice,  and  the  assassin  gained 
his  feet  just  as  Stephen  fell  upon  him.  So  quick  had  been 
the  latter 's  movement  that  the  edge  of  his  sword  fell  on  the 
side  of  the  murderer's  face  before  he  had  time  to  place  him- 
self on  guard.  With  a  howl  of  pain  and  rage  he  sprang  out 
from  the  end  of  the  tent,  and  rushed  to  the  narrow  opening 
left  in  their  barricade. 

Stephen  pursued  him  hotly,  but  the  Peruvian  was  quicker 
footed,  and,  dodging  among  the  trees,  presently  left  him  be- 
hind. Stephen  returned  to  the  tent,  stirred  up  the  fire  to  a 
blaze,  and  then  bent  over  the  captain.  He  saw  at  once  that 
the  latter  was  dead,  the  knife  having  twice  struck  him  in  the 
region  of  the  heart.  Stephen  took  up  one  of  the  loaded  mus- 
kets and  sat  down  at  the  entrance  of  the  barricade.  He  felt 


222  WITH    COCHRANE    THE    DAUNTLESS 

completely  crushed  at  the  blow.  His  early  suspicions  of 
Jacopo  had  gradually  died  out,  for  the  man  had  worked  will- 
ingly and  steadily ;  he  had  seemed  perfectly  contented  with 
the  prospect,  and  entered  as  keenly  into  the  building  of  the 
cutter  as  Stephen  and  the  captain  had  done.  But  it  was  evi- 
dent now  that  he  had  all  along  meditated  the  murder,  and 
had  only  delayed  until  the  craft  was  built  and  fitted,  the  gold 
in  its  place,  and  everything  ready  for  sailing  save  putting  the 
stores  on  board,  which  he  could  manage  by  himself. 

An  hour  before  everything  seemed  clear,  now  Stephen 
blamed  himself  that  he  had  prevented  the  captain  from  shoot- 
ing the  villain,  on  the  day  when  the  latter  discovered  that  the 
gold  had  gone.  And  yet  the  act  would  have  been  murder, 
for  there  was  no  proof  that  Jacopo  intended  to  play  them 
false.  What,  Stephen  asked  himself,  was  he  to  do  now  ?  He 
was  certain  that  the  murderer  would  not  permit  him,  without 
an  effort,  to  sail  away,  and  that  he  would  be  able  to  hide 
among  the  trees,  and  to  spring  out  at  any  moment  upon  him 
as  he  came  past  laden  with  barrel  or  sack.  It  was  not  even 
clear  how  he  could  get  a  wink  of  sleep,  for  at  any  moment 
the  assassin  might  crawl  up  and  stab  him. 

So  Stephen  passed  the  night.  He  watched  attentively  for 
the  slightest  sound,  but  he  did  not  think  that  the  fellow  was 
likely  to  return  that  night,  for  he  was  certain  that  he  had 
wounded  him  very  severely ;  and  besides,  the  scoundrel 
would  feel  sure  that  he  would  keep  a  vigilant  watch.  As 
soon  as  day  broke  he  got  up,  and  went  to  the  tent  to  verify  a 
thought  that  had  struck  him  during  his  watch.  He  counted 
the  muskets ;  there  were  but  twenty-two.  A  cold  perspira- 
tion broke  out  on  his  forehead  ;  his  worst  fears  were  realized. 
Jacopo  had  managed  during  the  last  day  or  two  to  take  two 
of  the  muskets  and  carry  them  away  with  him,  so  that  should 
his  intentions  to  murder  his  two  companions  miscarry,  he 


DEATH    OF    THE    CAPTAIN  223 

would  be  able  to  wage  war  against  them.  He  would  cer- 
tainly have  provided  himself  with  a  good  store  of  ammuni- 
tion. Difficult  as  the  position  had  seemed  before,  the  dif- 
ficulties and  dangers  were  increased  tenfold  now  he  knew  that 
the  Peruvian  was  provided  with  firearms. 

There  would  be  no  occasion  for  an  open  attack.  The  fel- 
low would  only  have  to  hide  up  in  the  undergrowth  and  shoot 
him  down  as  he  passed.  It  was  a  danger  against  which  there 
was  no  providing ;  at  any  moment  from  the  time  he  left  the 
tent  he  would  be  liable  to  be  shot  down  by  the  invisible  foe. 
Moving  about  almost  mechanically,  Stephen  boiled  some  water 
in  a  very  thin-skinned  gourd,  which  they  had  found  the  best 
substitute  for  a  kettle.  It  was  necessary  to  use  a  fresh  one 
frequently,  but  they  were  plentiful  in  the  woods,  and  a  sup- 
ply was  always  kept  on  hand.  As  soon  as  it  boiled,  he  threw 
in  a  handful  of  coffee  that  had  been  roasted  and  pounded  a 
day  or  two  before,  laid  a  chop  cut  from  the  pig  on  the  em- 
bers, and  put  biscuits  on  to  toast  beside  it.  He  had  no 
thought  of  being  in  danger,  for  he  felt  sure  that  Jacopo  would 
not  run  the  risk  of  approaching  the  tent.  After  the  meal  was 
cooked  and  eaten,  he  sat  for  a  long  time  pondering  over  what 
had  best  be  done. 

His  first  impulse  had  been  to  take  to  the  woods,  carrying  a 
couple  of  muskets  and  a  store  of  provisions  sufficient  for  a  day 
or  two,  and  to  hunt  the  Peruvian  down.  In  this  case  each 
would  be  ignorant  of  the  other's  position  and  movements, 
and  neither  would  have  any  advantage  over  the  other ;  but, 
on  the  other  hand,  while  he  was  hunting  Jacopo,  the  latter 
might  be  putting  a  sufficient  store  of  melons  and  perhaps  the 
carcase  of  a  pig  on  board  the  boat,  and  making  off  with  it. 
The  gold  was  there,  and  the  assassin  would  be  ready  to  run 
any  risk  to  get  away  with  it.  He  would  doubtless  prefer  to 
silence  the  only  voice  that  could  give  evidence  against  him, 


224  WITH    COCHRANE    THE    DAUNTLESS 

but  he  would  know  that  the  chance  of  Stephen's  ever  making 
his  escape  by  himself  would  be  so  small  that  it  might  be  dis- 
regarded. Stephen  thought  that,  at  any  rate,  the  risk  of  the 
Peruvian's  attempting  to  set  sail  that  day  was  small.  He 
would  be  suffering  intense  pain  from  the  wound,  and  would 
probably  be  incapable  of  making  any  great  exertion  ;  but 
most  of  all  he  trusted  to  Jacopo's  thirst  for  vengeance  to  keep 
him  for  a  while  on  the  island.  Eager  as  he  might  be  to  sail 
away  with  the  gold,  he  might  well  postpone  his  departure  for 
a  few  days,  until  he  had  avenged  himself  for  the  wound  that 
had  been  inflicted  on  him. 

Jacopo  had  one  advantage  over  him.  He  could  select  a 
spot  where  he  would  at  once  command  the  path  down  to  the 
shore  and  keep  his  eye  upon  the  cutter,  while  from  the  camp 
Stephen  was  unable  to  obtain  a  view  into  the  bay. 

As  he  was  thinking  the  matter  over,  Stephen's  eye  fell 
upon  the  block  and  rope  by  which  the  barrels  had  been 
hoisted  up.  It  had  for  a  long  time  been  disused,  for  they 
had  found  it  much  shorter  to  clear  a  path  from  the  spot  where 
they  descended  from  the  cliff  direct  to  the  little  bay,  thereby 
saving  at  least  two  -  thirds  of  the  distance,  a  matter  of  im- 
portance while  they  were  engaged  upon  their  boat-building. 
The  idea  at  once  presented  itself  that  he  might  leave  the  spot 
by  this  means  without  the  knowledge  of  the  Peruvian,  and 
would  thereby  turn  the  tables  on  him.  He  was  about  to  put 
the  loop  at  the  end  of  the  rope  around  his  body,  and  swing 
himself  over,  when  he  hesitated.  He  might  be  driven  to 
adopt  the  same  plan  that  he  credited  Jacopo  with  the  inten- 
tion of  following.  After  some  thought,  he  took  some  seventy 
pounds  of  salt  pork  from  the  barrel  and  put  it  in  a  sack,  round 
which  he  fastened  the  rope  in  such  a  manner  that  as  soon  as 
the  strain  on  it  was  relieved  it  could  be  shaken  off.  Then  he 
climbed  out  on  to  the  bough,  and  poured  a  little  melted  lard 


DEATH    OF    THE    CAPTAIN  225 

on  the  sheave  of  the  block  to  prevent  it  from  creaking.  Then 
he  lowered  the  barrel  down,  shook  off  the  fastening,  and  drew 
up  the  rope  again. 

Then  he  sent  down  a  large  sack  full  of  melons ;  this  done, 
there  was  nothing  to  do  but  to  wait  until  dusk.  He  kept  up 
a  good  fire  all  day,  thinking  it  probable  that  Jacopo  would 
have  placed  himself  where  he  could  see  the  smoke  rising. 
He  calculated  that  the  man  would  suppose  that  he  would  be 
likely  to  attempt  to  leave  his  post  after  dark,  and  would  then 
place  himself  somewhere  on  the  path  to  shoot  him  as  he  went 
past.  As  soon  as  it  was  dark,  he  lowered  four  of  the  mus- 
kets, with  a  bag  of  ammunition,  and  then  followed  himself. 
He  first  carried  the  muskets  and  ammunition  down  to  the 
shore,  and  then  made  two  trips  with  the  pork  and  melons. 
Then  he  rolled  one  of  the  water-casks,  that  had  already  been 
filled,  down  the  sand  into  the  sea,  and,  entering  the  water 
breast-deep,  pushed  it  before  him  until  he  came  to  the  rope 
from  the  stern  of  the  craft  to  the  shore.  Returning,  he 
fetched  the  pork,  melons,  muskets,  and  ammunition.  Then 
he  waded  and  swam  out  to  the  cutter,  holding  his  sword  in 
his  teeth,  pulled  himself  noiselessly  up,  and  then,  sword  in 
hand,  descended  into  the  cabin,  where  he  thought  it  was  just 
possible  that  the  Peruvian  might  be  sleeping.  The  light  of 
the  moon  was  sufficient  to  show  him  that  it  was  empty. 

Ascending  to  the  deck  again,  he  slackened  out  the  head- 
rope  attached  to  a  heavy  stone  that  served  as  an  anchor  ; 
then  he  hauled  on  the  rope  ashore  until  he  felt  the  stern  touch 
the  sand.  Making  fast  the  rope,  he  lowered  himself  down 
and  waded  to  shore.  Then  he  brought  off  the  muskets  and 
ammunition,  pork  and  melons  on  his  head,  and  lastly  got 
the  barrel  of  water  alongside,  put  a  sling  round  it,  fastened 
the  main  halliards  to  it,  and  hoisted  it  on  board.  He  was 
now  in  a  position  to  make  off,  but  still  altogether  inadequately 


226  WITH    COCHRANE    THE    DAUNTLESS 

provisioned  for  such  a  voyage  as  he  meditated,  and  after  some 
thought  he  determined  to  return  on  shore. 

He  had  at  first  thought  of  remaining  on  board  and  hoisting 
the  sail.  This  would  attract  the  attention  of  Jacopo  as  soon 
as  it  was  light  enough  for  him  to  see  it,  and  probably  in  his 
fury  at  being  outwitted  the  man  would  rush  frantically  down, 
and  try  to  get  on  board  ;  but  in  that  case  Stephen  should 
have  to  shoot  him  in  cold  blood,  which  he  felt  he  could  not 
bring  himself  to  do. 

He  decided  finally  upon  going  on  shore,  where  he  could 
meet  the  man  on  equal  terms.  He  accordingly  hoisted  the 
sail,  and  then  landed  with  a  couple  of  loaded  muskets,  taking 
his  place  behind  a  tree  a  short  distance  up  the  path,  and  wait- 
ing until  morning.  The  various  journeys  had  taken  him 
some  time,  and  it  was  now,  he  judged,  about  three  o'clock. 
As  soon  as  it  was  light  his  watch  began  in  earnest.  Contrary 
to  his  expectations,  it  was  fully  an  hour  before  he  heard  any 
sign  of  Jacopo  coming.  He  accounted  for  the  delay  on  the 
supposition  that  the  Peruvian  would  think  perhaps  that  al- 
though he  had  outwitted  him  and  got  on  board,  he  must  be 
altogether  unprovided  with  stores,  and  unable,  therefore,  to 
put  to  sea.  He  would  suppose  then  that  he  had  returned  to 
shore,  especially  as  there  were  no  signs  of  him  on  board  the 
craft. 

At  last  he  saw  him  coming  down  the  path  with  a  stealthy, 
crouching  step,  with  one  musket  slung  behind  him,  and  the 
other  in  his  hand  ready  for  instant  action.  He  was  a  dread- 
ful sight.  His  face  was  bound  up  with  a  sleeve  cut  from  his 
shirt.  His  forehead  was  encrusted  and  his  hair  matted  with 
dried  blood,  with  which  also  his  linen  jacket  and  trousers 
were  thickly  stained.  Stephen  had  chosen  a  tree  round  whose 
foot  was  a  thick  growth  of  bush,  and  he  now  proceeded  to 
put  into  execution  the  plan  that  he  had  decided  upon.  Stoop- 


DEATH    OF    THE    CAPTAIN  227 

ing  behind  the  trunk  of  the  tree,  he  thrust  up  from  among 
the  bushes  his  cap  on  the  top  of  a  ramrod,  taking  care  that 
the  upper  part  only  just  showed  above  the  leaves.  Almost 
instantly  Jacopo  levelled  his  rifle  and  fired.  Stephen  gave  a 
loud  cry  and  dropped  the  cap.  The  Peruvian,  with  a  yell  of 
exultation,  threw  away  the  gun,  drew  his  knife,  and  bounded 
forward.  As  he  came  up,  Stephen  sprang  out,  and  brought 
the  butt  end  of  his  gun  down  with  all  his  strength  on  the 
Peruvian's  head,  striking  him  senseless  to  the  ground.  Ste- 
phen picked  up  the  murderer's  knife  and  placed  it  in  his  belt, 
took  the  musket  from  his  shoulder,  and  then  with  a  cord  he 
had  brought  with  him  bound  his  feet,  and  turning  him  over 
fastened  his  wrists  tightly  together. 

Then  he  raised  him,  and  placed  him  in  a  sitting  position 
against  the  tree,  passed  the  cord  several  times  round  him  and 
the  trunk,  knotting  it  firmly  behind  the  tree.  Then  he  went 
away  to  the  stream  and  cut  a  couple  of  gourds,  filled  them 
with  water,  and  returned.  Jacopo  had  now  opened  his  eyes, 
and  was  looking  round  him  in  a  dazed  condition.  When  he 
saw  Stephen  approaching  he  made  a  struggle  to  rise. 

"  It  is  of  no  use,  Jacopo,"  Stephen  said  quietly  ;  "  your 
power  of  mischief  is  at  an  end.  You  have  murdered  your 
captain,  and  you  would  have  murdered  me,  so  now  your  life 
is  justly  forfeited.  Did  I  give  you  the  fate  you  deserve,  I 
would  bring  down  the  body  of  your  victim,  tie  it  to  you,  and 
leave  you  to  die  of  thirst.  Fortunately  for  you  I  am  a  Brit- 
ish officer,  and  I  cannot  be  both  judge  and  executioner." 

The  Peruvian's  reply  was  a  volley  of  curses  and  execrations. 

''Will  you  drink  some  water?"  Stephen  asked,  without 
paying  any  attention  to  his  words. 

The  Peruvian's  only  reply  was  to  spit  furiously  at  him. 
Stephen  placed  one  of  the  gourds  on  the  ground  close  to  him, 
saying  :  "  You  will  think  better  of  it  presently,"  poured  the 


228  WITH    COCHRANE    THE    DAUNTLESS 

contents  of  the  other  over  Jacopo's  head  ;  and  then  returning 
to  the  boat,  brought  off  another  coil  of  rope  with  which  he 
still  more  securely  fastened  Jacopo  to  the  tree,  and  then  went 
up  to  the  tent.  He  spent  the  day  in  carrying  down  the  store 
of  provisions,  arms,  and  ammunition,  asking  Jacopo  each 
time  he  passed  him  whether  he  would  have  some  water.  For 
some  time  the  prisoner  refused  ;  but  the  agony  of  thirst 
caused  by  the  fever  of  his  wounds  at  last  overcame  his  reso- 
lution, and  he  cried  loudly,  as  Stephen  approached  him,  for 
water.  Stephen  held  the  gourd  to  his  lips  until  he  drank  off 
the  whole  of  its  contents,  then  he  went  and  refilled  both 
gourds,  poured  one  over  the  man's  head,  set  the  other  down 
beside  him,  and  continued  his  work. 

By  nightfall  he  had  carried  everything  on  board,  and  there 
remained  but  to  take  the  other  water-casks  alongside.  Jacopo 
had  drunk  several  gourds  full  of  water  during  the  day,  but  by 
evening  he  became  delirious  from  fury  and  the  fever  of  his 
wounds  ;  Stephen  therefore  undid  all  his  fastenings  save  those 
round  his  ankles,  and  took  up  his  post  near  him.  All  night 
the  man  raved  incessantly.  From  time  to  time  Stephen  got 
up  and  poured  water  between  his  lips,  and  in  the  morning 
cut  a  very  ripe  melon,  squeezed  the  juice  from  the  pulp,  and 
gave  it  to  him  to  drink.  Then  he  went  down  and  towed  the 
other  water-barrels  to  the  cutter  and  got  them  on  board,  and 
afterwards  returned  to  his  prisoner.  For  three  days  the 
delirium  continued.  Stephen  kept  the  bandages  round  his 
head  constantly  moistened  with  water,  and  gave  him  melon 
juice  to  drink.  The  third  night  the  ravings  sank  to  a  whis- 
per, and  presently  became  silent,  and  Stephen  thought  that 
all  would  soon  be  over.  However,  the  man's  breathing  be- 
came quiet  and  regular,  and  in  the  morning  he  opened  his 
eyes  with  consciousness  in  them. 

"  You  here  still !"  he  murmured,  as  Stephen  bent  over  him. 


DEATH    OF   THE   CAPTAIN  229 

"  Yes,  Jacopo ;  villain  as  you  are,  I  could  not  leave  you  to 
die." 

' '  How  long  have  I  been  here  ?  "  the  man  murmured  after 
a  long  pause. 

"It  is  four  days  since  you  attacked  me.  Now  that  you  are 
sensible,  I  shall  set  sail,  but  I  will  first  carry  you  to  the  side 
of  the  stream.  Now  that  you  have  got  through  the  fever  you 
will  recover.  I  have  left  at  the  tent  one  of  the  muskets  and  a 
store  of  ammunition,  so  that  you  will  be  able  to  shoot  pigs; 
and  there  is,  as  you  know,  an  abundance  of  melons,  bread- 
fruit, and  guavas,  and  I  daresay  you  will  discover  other  things 
ere  long.  I  trust  that  in  the  time  that  is  before  you,  you  will 
repent  of  your  sins,  and  try  and  make  your  peace  with  God. 
I  have  buried  the  body  of  the  man  you  murdered." 

With  some  difficulty  Stephen  got  Jacopo  on  to  his  back, 
carried  him  to  the  stream,  and  laid  him  down  at  its  edge  in 
the  shade  of  the  trees ;  then  he  placed  within  reach  of  him  a 
number  of  melons,  bread-fruit,  and  some  biscuits.  He  had 
long  since  taken  the  rope  off  his  ankles. 

"  I  do  not  understand  why  you  have  done  all  this  for  me. 
I  would  have  killed  you  if  I  could  ;  you  have  treated  me  as 
if  I  were  your  brother.  I  know  that  it  is  of  no  use  my 
asking  you  to  take  me  with  you,  but  will  you  do  me  one  last 
favour  ?  ' ' 

"  Certainly,  if  it  is  in  my  power,  Jacopo." 

"  Will  you  bring  the  musket  and  ammunition  down  here? 
I  could  not  go  near  there  again. ' ' 

Stephen  nodded.  "  I  will  get  them  for  you,"  he  said,  and 
at  once  started  for  the  tent.  He  first  pulled  this  and  the 
store-tent  down,  rolled  them  together,  and  lowered  them  to 
the  side  of  the  pool,  climbed  out  and  cut  the  fastening  of  the 
block,  and  let  it  and  the  rope  fall  beside  them.  He  then  threw 
over  the  case  of  swords  which  he  had  not  thought  worth  tak- 


230  WITH    COCHRANE   THE    DAUNTLESS 

ing  away,  and  then  getting  the  gun  and  ammunition,  he  re- 
turned to  Jacopo. 

"There  they  are,"  he  said.  "Here  are  three  hundred 
rounds  of  ammunition  ;  by  the  side  of  the  pool  under  the  cliff 
you  will  find  the  two  tents,  the  rope,  and  ten  spare  swords, 
which  may  prove  useful  to  you.  Here  are  three  gourds  full 
of  water  close  to  your  hand,  and  by  reaching  over  you  can 
fill  them  as  often  as  you  like.  In  a  week  I  have  no  doubt 
that  you  will  be  strong  enough  to  walk.  Is  there  anything 
else  I  can  do  ?  " 

"There  is  nothing,  sefior.  May  God  bless  you  for  your 
kindness !  ' ' 

"And  may  God  pardon  you!  "  Stephen  said;  adding  as 
he  turned  away,  "  It  may  be  that  some  day  a  passing  ship 
may  carry  you  off." 

Then  turning  he  walked  slowly  back  to  the  shore.  Wretch 
as  this  man  was,  he  felt  a  pang  at  leaving  him  behind.  But 
he  was  sure  that  even  if  he  could  overcome  his  repugnance  to 
him  as  the  murderer  of  the  captain,  he  could  not  take  him 
with  him,  for  he  would  never  be  safe  for  a  moment.  With 
returning  health  and  strength  would  come  afresh  the  lust  for 
the  gold,  which  might  soon  overcome  any  feeling  of  gratitude 
for  the  treatment  that  he  had  received. 

When  he  reached  the  shore  near  the  boat,  he  cast  off  the 
stern  rope  and  then  swam  on  board,  hoisted  the  jib  and  fore- 
sail, pulled  up  the  anchor,  and  took  his  place  at  the  tiller. 

The  breeze  was  a  very  light  one,  and  for  a  time  the  cutter 
moved  along  but  slowly,  but  as  it  got  beyond  the  shelter  of 
the  land  it  felt  the  wind,  and  began  to  spin  fast  through  the 
water.  Stephen's  spirits,  which  had  been  greatly  depressed 
for  the  last  few  days,  rose  as  the  little  craft  heeled  to  the 
breeze.  Nearly  six  months  had  been  spent  on  the  island,  but 
at  last  he  was  free.  As  to  his  course,  he  had  but  the  sun  by 


DEATH    OF    THE    CAPTAIN  231 

day  and  the  stars  by  night  to  guide  him ;  but  he  knew  that 
the  vessel  had  been  blown  almost  due  west,  and  that  by  head- 
ing east  he  should  make  the  coast  either  of  Chili  or  Peru.  He 
found  to  his  satisfaction  that  the  boat  would  keep  her  course 
very  near  the  wind,  that  she  came  about  easily  and  rapidly, 
and  was  certainly  swift  under  her  canvas. 

She  carried  no  topmast,  as  they  had  agreed  that,  with  only 
three  hands,  it  would  be  better  to  avoid  all  complications  of 
gear.  In  the  middle  of  the  day  the  wind  fell  a  good  deal. 
At  the  time  he  was  abreast  of  a  large  island,  and  he  presently 
saw  a  war  canoe  shoot  out  from  the  shore.  Lashing  the  tiller, 
he  ran  down  below,  brought  up  the  twenty  -  three  muskets, 
loaded  them  all,  and  laid  them  against  the  bulwark  astern. 
Then  he  took  his  place  at  the  helm  again,  and  looked  anx- 
iously across  the  water  in  the  hope  of  seeing  a  dark  line  that 
would  tell  of  the  breeze  freshening  again.  He  knew  enough, 
however,  of  the  winds  prevalent  among  the  islands  to  be  sure 
that  it  would  not  strengthen  much  for  the  next  two  or  three 
hours.  From  the  number  of  paddles  going  on  each  side  of 
the  canoe  he  calculated  that  she  must  carry  from  forty  to  fifty 
men.  His  hope  was  that  they  would  be  unacquainted  with 
firearms,  and  would  draw  off  when  he  began  to  fire. 

When  they  came  within  about  four  hundred  yards  he  took 
up  a  musket  and  fired,  taking  aim  at  some  little  distance  from 
the  side  of  the  boat.  At  the  report  the  paddles  ceased  in- 
stantly, and  for  a  time  it  was  evident  that  great  confusion 
reigned  among  the  rowers.  While  this  was  going  on  Stephen 
reloaded  his  piece.  After  some  five  minutes'  delay  the  men 
recommenced  paddling,  but  at  a  pace  that  contrasted  strongly 
with  the  rapid  and  eager  stroke  which  they  had  before  rowed. 
Stephen  waited  this  time  until  they  were  within  two  hundred 
and  fifty  yards,  and  then  lying  down  on  the  deck  and  resting 
the  barrel  on  the  bulwarks,  he  took  a  steady  aim  and  fired. 


232  WITH    COCHRANE   THE    DAUNTLESS 

One  of  the  men  standing  up  in  the  bow  fell  overboard.  The 
paddling  ceased  again,  and  a  hubbub  of  voices  was  heard.  As 
she  lay  motionless,  Stephen  fired  shot  after  shot.  One  or  two 
of  these  hit  the  canoe,  two  or  three  others  went  wide,  but  the 
rest  did  execution  among  the  crowded  mass.  By  the  noise  it 
was  evident  that  some  wished  to  go  on,  others  to  retire,  and 
after  discharging  twelve  shots,  Stephen  began  to  hastily  reload 
the  pieces  he  had  fired. 

The  cessation  of  fire  apparently  reassured  the  war  party,  for 
when  he  had  reloaded  six  of  them  the  paddles  again  began  to 
work.  Stephen  at  once  recommenced  firing,  and  his  eighth 
shot  brought  down  a  chief  who  was  standing  prominently  in 
the  stern,  and  was  evidently  in  command.  His  fall  had  an 
instantaneous  effect.  With  a  yell  of  terror  the  natives  ceased 
paddling.  Then  some  began  to  back  and  others  to  row,  and 
the  canoe  turned  slowly  round  and  then  sped  away  at  a  rate 
as  fast  as  it  had  come  up,  although  the  number  of  paddlers  was 
markedly  decreased.  Satisfied  that  they  would  not  return, 
Stephen  reloaded  all  the  muskets  and  then  went  below  for  his 
first  meal  on  board.  The  cabin  would  have  seemed  a  poor 
place  to  yachtsmen,  with  its  rough  beams  and  timbers  and  its 
discoloured  planking,  but  no  yachtsman  ever  felt  prouder  of  a 
craft  than  Stephen  did  of  the  boat  in  whose  building  he  had 
taken  a  share.  There  were  no  bulk -heads,  the  hull  being 
open  from  end  to  end.  The  water  -  cask  and  provisions  had 
been  stowed  aft  the  mast. 

One  of  the  barrels  served  as  a  table,  the  iron  plate  that  had 
been  taken  from  the  floor  of  the  ship's  galley  had  been  placed 
forward  of  the  mast  on  a  layer  of  sand  three  inches  thick,  and 
a  forecastle  hatch  had  been  placed  above  it  to  serve  as  an  exit 
for  the  smoke.  A  store  of  wood,  the  result  of  their  ship- 
building operations,  was  piled  in  the  bow.  Stephen  did  not 
trouble  to  cook,  but  boiled  some  water  over  some  chips  of 


STEPHEN   BEATS   OFF   THE   GREAT   WAR-CANOE   SINGLE-HANDED. 


DEATH   OF   THE    CAPTAIN  233 

wood,  made  himself  a  cup  of  coffee,  or  rather  the  half  of  a 
small  gourd  of  coffee,  ate  a  melon  and  a  biscuit,  and  presently 
went  up  on  deck  again.  At  three  o'clock  a  light  breeze  sprung 
up,  and  this,  an  hour  later,  strengthened  to  a  heavy  blow. 
Stephen  sailed  on  until  midnight,  then  reefed  the  mainsail 
and  fastened  the  boom  amidships,  lowered  the  foresail  and 
hauled  the  jib  to  weather,  and  having  thus  laid  the  cutter  head 
to  wind,  lay  down  on  the  deck  and  slept  soundly  until  day- 
break. The  next  day  he  passed  two  or  three  islands,  but  all 
at  a  considerable  distance.  Beyond  these  no  land  was  visible, 
and  he  hoped  that  he  was  fairly  beyond  the  Archipelago  with 
its  hostile  natives. 

Day  after  day  passed  without  incident.  Stephen  always  lay 
to  at  night  for  a  few  hours,  and  calculated  that  the  rate  at 
which  he  sailed  during  the  remaining  eighteen  was,  allowing 
for  calms,  some  four  knots  an  hour.  On  the  sixth  day  the 
appearance  of  the  sky  changed,  and  Stephen  prepared  for  bad 
weather  by  fully  reefing  his  mainsail.  The  clouds  banked  up 
rapidly  and  the  wind  rose.  It  was  southerly,  and  the  boat 
tore  rapidly  through  the  water.  Two  hours  later  Stephen  let 
the  foresail  run  down,  and  under  the  reduced  sail  the  boat 
went  more  lightly  and  easily  over  the  rising  sea.  By  evening 
he  had  stowed  the  mainsail  altogether,  and  slackening  the  jib 
sheet  held  on  his  course.  By  midnight  it  was  blowing  a  gale. 
He  raised  the  gaff  four  or  five  feet,  put  lashings  round  the  sail 
to  prevent  its  blowing  out,  and  then  hauling  on  the  weather 
sheet  let  her  lay  to,  taking  now  his  place  at  the  tiller,  so  as  to 
be  able  to  bring  her  head  up  did  she  pay  off  the  wind. 

It  was  an  anxious  night,  but  the  little  craft  was  lightly 
ballasted  and  buoyant,  and  rose  to  the  seas  without  taking  any 
great  quantity  of  water  over  the  bows.  For  two  days  the 
storm  continued.  Stephen  never  left  the  tiller  during  that 
time  save  to  run  below  at  intervals  and  snatch  a  mouthful  of 


234  WITH    COCHRANE   THE    DAUNTLESS 

food.  After  the  first  two  or  three  hours  he  had  felt  no  fear 
whatever  as  to  the  ability  of  the  craft  to  weather  the  gale,  but 
it  was  a  long  strain,  and  he  was  deeply  thankful  when  the  wind 
abated  sufficiently  for  him  to  be  able  to  hoist  the  reefed  main- 
sail again  and  to  lie  to  comfortably.  As  soon  as  this  was  done 
he  went  below,  and  slept  for  twelve  hours.  The  sun  was  shin- 
ing brightly  when  he  awoke,  a  light  breeze  was  blowing,  and 
save  for  a  long  swell  the  sea  had  gone  down.  He  indulged  in  a 
hearty  breakfast  before  proceeding  on  his  way.  Then  he  shook 
out  the  reefs  in  the  mainsail,  hoisted  it,  got  up  the  foresail, 
slacked  off  the  weather  sheet  of  the  jib,  and  again  headed  east. 
One  morning  ten  days  later  he  saw  the  sun  rise  behind  a 
broken  outline  instead  of  the  line  of  the  horizon,  and  knew 
that  this  could  be  nothing  but  the  hills  of  the  mainland. 
Lofty  as  these  were  he  might  be  still  a  hundred  and  fifty  miles 
from  them,  but  the  weather  was  fair,  the  wind  fresh,  the  boat 
travelling  at  six  knots  an  hour,  and  by  mid-day  to-morrow 
he  would  be  close  to  land.  Whether  it  was  Chili  or  Peru 
that  lay  ahead  of  him  he  had  no  means  of  knowing,  but  he 
believed  it  was  the  former,  for  he  had  headed  rather  to  the 
south  of  east  and  felt  sure  that  he  should  strike  the  coast  some- 
where on  the  long  seaboard  of  Chili.  He  was  the  more  con- 
vinced of  this  as  two  days  before  he  had  seen  an  island  far 
to  the  north  of  him  and  guessed  it  to  be  either  San  Felix  or 
San  Ambrose,  and  had  shaped  his  course  rather  more  to  the 
south  in  consequence.  That  night  he  was  too  excited  to  turn 
in  as  usual,  but  held  on  his  course.  By  morning  the  land  lay 
little  more  than  twenty  miles  away,  and  he  recognized  at  once 
the  outline  of  the  hills  that  he  had  passed  when  sailing  north, 
and  knew  where  Valparaiso  lay,  some  fifty  miles  further  south. 
He  changed  his  course  accordingly,  and  at  four  o'clock  in  the 
afternoon  dropped  his  stone  anchor  a  hundred  yards  off  the 
quay  of  the  Chilian  port. 


PRIZE-MONEY  235 

CHAPTER  XIII 

PRIZE-MONEY 

STEPHEN  busied  himself  in  stowing  away  his  sails.  By 
the  time  he  had  done  so  a  small  crowd  had  collected  on 
the  quay  looking  with  surprise  and  wonder  at  the  little  craft 
with  its  unpainted  sides  and  rough  appearance.  In  a  short 
time  a  boat  with  a  port  official  rowed  alongside,  and  stepping 
on  deck  the  officer  looked  round  in  surprise  at  seeing  only  one 
person  on  board.  Stephen  had,  before  arriving  at  the  port, 
donned  a  clean  suit  of  linen  trousers  and  jacket ;  his  cap  was 
out  of  all  shape,  and  the  badge  on  its  front  had  faded  into  a 
blur ;  he  was  barefooted,  and  his  hair  had  grown  almost  to  his 
shoulders.  The  aspect  of  the  boat  was  almost  as  surprising  as 
that  of  its  solitary  occupant.  There  were  no  signs  of  paint 
visible,  the  work  was  rough,  the  stanchions  of  various  sizes, 
some  new  in  appearance,  and  some  blackened  with  age  and 
sea-water. 

"  Who  are  you,  sefior?"  the  official  asked,  "and  what 
craft  is  this  ?  ' ' 

"  The  craft  has  no  name,  senor,  though  we  who  built  her 
thought  of  naming  her  the  Deliverer.  I  myself  am  Stephen 
Embleton,  flag-midshipman  to  Admiral  Lord  Cochrane.  May 
I  ask  if  the  admiral  is  now  in  port?" 

"  He  is,"  the  official  replied. 

' '  May  I  beg  you  to  send  off  a  shore  boat  by  which  I  may 
despatch  a  message  to  the  admiral?  " 

"Your  story  is  a  strange  one,"  the  official  said  gravely. 
"  I  myself  have  seen  the  young  officer,  you  state  yourself  to  be, 
in  company  with  the  admiral,  but  I  am  bound  to  say  that  I  do 
not  recognize  you. ' ' 


236  WITH    COCHRANE   THE    DAUNTLESS 

"  I  am  not  surprised  at  that,"  Stephen  said  with  a  smile. 
"  In  the  first  place,  I  should  imagine  that  my  face  is  the  colour 
of  mahogany  from  wind  and  sun  ;  in  the  second,  my  hair  has 
not  been  cut  for  six  months  ;  and  lastly,  this  suit  of  clothes, 
though  excellent  in  its  way,  is  scarcely  in  accordance  with  my 
rank." 

"  I  will  myself  row  off  to  the  admiral's  ship,"  the  official  said, 
"  and  convey  your  message  to  him.  What  shall  I  tell  him?  " 

"I  thank  you,  sir.  Will  you  please  say  that  Stephen 
Embleton  is  on  board  this  craft,  that  I  am  alone,  and  for 
certain  reasons  cannot  leave  it,  and  pray  him  either  to  come 
himself  or  to  send  a  trusted  officer  with  a  party  of  sailors  to 
take  charge  of  it." 

The  official  saluted  him  gravely.  He  was  by  no  means  sure 
of  the  sanity  of  this  young  fellow,  but  his  curiosity  had  been 
aroused  by  his  appearance  and  that  of  his  craft,  and  he  there- 
fore condescended  to  undertake  a  mission  that  at  ordinary 
times  he  would  have  scorned.  Stephen  watched  the  boat  row 
alongside  a  frigate  anchored  a  mile  away.  Shortly  after- 
wards he  saw  a  stir.  A  boat  was  pulled  up  to  the  accommo- 
dation ladder.  A  party  of  sailors  then  took  their  places  in  her, 
and  two  figures  came  down  the  gangway  and  the  boat  pushed 
off.  A  few  minutes  later  it  reached  the  side  of  the  cutter. 
Stephen  saluted  as  Lord  Cochrane  sprang  nimbly  on  board. 

"  My  dear  lad  !  "  the  admiral  exclaimed,  grasping  his  hand, 
"  I  gave  you  up  for  lost  many  months  ago,  and  we  have  all 
mourned  for  you  deeply.  Where  have  you  been  ?  what  have 
you  been  doing  ?  what  on  earth  have  you  done  to  yourself? 
and  where  did  you  get  this  extraordinary  craft  ?  " 

"  I  have  been  cast  away  on  an  island  some  twelve  hundred 
miles  to  the  west.  Only  three  of  us  were  saved.  We  built 
this  craft  between  us.  One  of  my  comrades  is  dead,  the  other 
remains  on  the  island,  and  I  have  sailed  her  back  single-handed. 


PRIZE-MONEY  237 

I  think  this,  sir,  will  account  for  my  somewhat  strange  ap- 
pearance. ' ' 

"Fully,  fully,  lad.  Well,  you  must  tell  me  all  about  it 
afterwards.  Why  did  you  not  come  direct  in  the  boat  to  my 
ship  instead  of  sending  for  me?  " 

"  Because  I  was  afraid  of  anyone  else  coming  on  board  until 
you  had  sent  someone  you  could  trust  to  take  possession  of 
her." 

"  Why,  bless  me  !  "  Lord  Cochrane  said  with  a  laugh,  "  I 
should  not  have  taken  her  to  be  as  valuable  as  all  that.  She 
is  most  creditable  as  a  specimen  of  the  work  of  three  ship- 
wrecked men,  and  I  should  say  from  her  appearance  as  I  rowed 
up  to  her  that  she  was  fairly  fast.  She  might  be  worth  a  good 
deal  as  an  exhibition  if  you  had  her  in  the  Thames,  but  she 
would  not  fetch  many  hundred  dollars  here ;  though  I  have  no 
doubt  that,  when  properly  painted  up  and  in  trim,  she  would 
make  an  excellent  little  coaster." 

"  It  is  the  cargo  and  not  the  ship,  sir,  that  is  valuable." 

"  What  does  it  consist  of  ?  " 

"  It  consists  of  gold,  sir.  There  are  five  hundred  thousand 
dollars  stowed  in  boxes. ' ' 

The  admiral  looked  at  him  in  astonishment. 

"  Five  hundred  thousand  dollars,  Mr.  Embleton  !  Are  you 
in  earnest  ?  ' ' 

"  Quite  so,  sir ;  the  ship  you  sent  me  off  to  with  twelve 
hands  was  laden  with  military  stores  and  money  for  the  pay- 
ment of  the  Spanish  troops.  I  was  fortunate  enough  to  get 
on  board  and  capture  her  just  before  the  storm  burst.  When 
she  was  wrecked,  on  an  island  of  whose  name  I  am  ignorant, 
her  stern,  where  the  gold  was  stowed,  was  fortunately  in  only 
four  feet  of  water,  and  we  had,  therefore,  no  difficulty  in  get- 
ting at  the  boxes  and  carrying  them  on  shore,  where  we  buried 
them  until  we  had  built  this  craft." 


238  WITH    COCHRANE    THE    DAUNTLESS 

The  admiral  ran  down  the  companion  into  the  cabin  and 
saw  the  boxes  lying  side  by  side  along  the  length  of  the  keel. 

"  I  congratulate  you  heartily,"  he  said  to  Stephen,  "  this  is 
by  far  the  richest  prize  that  has  fallen  into  our  hands.  You 
did  perfectly  right  in  sending  for  me,  for,  in  faith,  I  would  not 
trust  this  treasure  out  of  my  sight  on  any  consideration,  until 
I  handed  it  over  to  the  Chilian  government,  after  taking  care 
to  deduct  the  fleet's  share  of  the  prize  -  money.  It  will  be 
welcome,  I  can  tell  you,  for  the  pay  of  the  fleet  is  terribly  in 
arrear.  The  treasury  is  empty,  and  there  are  no  means  of 
refilling  it.  Properly  speaking,  the  whole  of  the  fleet's  share 
of  the  money  should  go  to  you,  but  the  rules  of  the  service  are 
arbitrary." 

The  conversation  had  been  in  English,  and  the  admiral 
going  on  deck  ordered  the  officer,  who  had  remained  sitting 
in  his  gig,  to  tow  the  cutter  alongside  the  flag -ship.  The 
officer  at  once  gave  the  necessary  orders.  Two  of  the  men 
jumped  on  board  and  hauled  up  the  anchor,  and  nothing  but 
the  presence  of  the  admiral  prevented  a  burst  of  laughter 
among  the  boat's  crew  as  the  stone  came  to  the  surface.  As 
it  was,  there  was  a  broad  grin  on  their  faces.  The  two  men 
resumed  their  places  in  the  boat,  and  the  cutter  was  towed  to 
the  side  of  the  flag-ship.  Lord  Cochrane  ordered  a  whip  to 
be  sent  down  with  slings,  and  himself  superintended  the  bring- 
ing up  of  the  boxes,  whose  weight  in  comparison  to  their  size 
excited  lively  surprise  among  the  sailors  who  brought  them  up 
to  the  deck.  The  slings  were  placed  round  them  one  by  one, 
and  they  were  hoisted  to  the  deck  of  the  frigate,  and  carried 
into  the  admiral's  cabin. 

After  the  last  box  had  been  swung  up,  the  admiral  and 
Stephen  went  up  the  accommodation  ladder  to  the  deck.  The 
officers  were  gathered  round  the  boxes  wondering  at  their 
weight. 


PRIZE-MONEY  239 

"  What  should  you  say  they  have  in  them,  gentlemen?" 
Lord  Cochrane  asked. 

"  I  should  say  that  they  contained  specie,"  the  captain  said, 
"  had  it  not  been  out  of  the  question  that  so  great  an  amount 
could  be  collected  in  Chili." 

"  I  am  happy  to  inform  you,  gentlemen,  that  those  boxes 
contain  Spanish  gold,  and  that  they  are  a  lawful  prize  captured 
from  the  enemy  by  a  boat's  crew  from  this  ship,  under  the 
command  of  my  flag-midshipman,  Mr.  Embleton.  Everyman 
on  board,  therefore,  in  proportion  to  his  rank,  will  come  in 
for  a  share  of  prize-money,  and  for  this  you  will  have  to  thank 
your  fellow -officer  here. ' ' 

Hitherto  none  of  them  had  recognized  Stephen,  but  had 
been  wondering  who  the  strange  figure  was  that  had  come  on 
board  with  the  admiral.  They  still  looked  almost  incredulous, 
until  Stephen  stepped  forward  and  held  out  his  hand  to  his 
special  friends  and  addressed  them  by  name. 

"  Why,  is  it  really  you,  Don  Estevan?  We  had  all  given 
you  up  for  lost.  We  are  glad,  indeed,  to  see  you  again." 

The  other  officers  all  came  round  and  heartily  greeted 
Stephen,  all  asking  questions  together  about  his  long  absence 
and  the  wonderful  prize  of  which  the  admiral  had  spoken. 

"I  will  answer  as  many  questions  as  I  can  presently," 
Stephen  protested ;  "  but,  in  the  first  place,  I  must  have  a 
bath,  and  change  my  clothes,  and  have  my  hair  cut.  Are  my 
things  still  on  board,  and  is  anyone  else  in  my  cabin?  " 

He  learned  to  his  great  satisfaction  that  his  cabin  was  as  he 
had  left  it. 

"  For  weeks  the  admiral  hoped  that  you  would  return. 
There  was,  indeed,  much  anxiety  about  the  boat  when  we  saw 
the  storm  coming  on.  Whether  you  had  gained  the  brig  be- 
fore it  burst,  of  course  none  of  us  knew.  We  could  only 
hope  that  you  had  done  so.  The  storm  was  a  terrible  one 


240  WITH    COCHRANE    THE    DAUNTLESS 

here.  While  some  thought  that  the  brig  might  have  foundered 
at  once  when  it  struck  her,  it  was  certain  that  if  she  weathered 
the  first  blow  she  would  have  to  run  for  it.  It  was  one  of  the 
worst  storms,  people  here  say,  that  has  been  experienced  on 
the  coast  for  many  years,  alike  in  its  fury  and  in  its  duration, 
and  all  agreed  that  she  would  have  been  blown  at  least  a  thou- 
sand miles  off  the  land  before  the  gale  spent  its  force.  As  the 
wind  continued  in  the  same  quarter  for  a  long  time  it  would 
have  taken  the  brig  weeks  to  beat  back  against  it ;  but  when 
two  months  passed  without  your  return,  all  concluded  that 
you  had  either  sunk  before  gaining  the  ship,  or  that  she  had 
gone  down  in  the  gale,  or  been  wrecked  among  some  of  the 
islands  into  whose  neighbourhood  she  must  have  been  blown. 
However,  the  admiral  continued  to  hope  long  after  the  rest  of 
us  had  given  you  up.  At  the  end  of  two  months  he  appointed 
me  his  flag -midshipman,  to  fill  your  place,  as  he  especially 
said,  until  your  return.  This  being  the  case,  I  have  not 
shifted  my  berth,  and  your  cabin  has  remained  unoccupied." 

One  of  the  officers  gave  orders  that  a  tub  should  be  at  once 
taken  to  Stephen's  cabin,  filled  with  water,  and  that  the  ship's 
barber  should  hold  himself  in  readiness  when  called  upon. 

When  Stephen  came  out,  an  hour  later,  dressed  in  uniform, 
and  with  his  hair  a  reasonable  length,  he  was  told  that  the 
admiral  had  requested  his  presence  in  his  cabin  as  soon  as  he 
was  dressed,  but  had  ordered  the  message  not  to  be  given  to 
him  until  he  came  on  deck. 

"Now,  lad,  let  me  hear  the  whole  story,"  he  said;  "but 
first  fill  your  glass  from  that  bottle.  I  should  imagine  that  you 
have  almost  forgotten  the  taste  of  wine." 

"I  have  not  touched  it  since  two  days  after  we  were 
wrecked,  sir;  but  on  the  whole  we  have  not  done  at  all  badly 
with  regard  to  food." 

"  In  the  first  place,  what  has  become  of  your  boat's  crew?" 


PRIZE-MONEY  241 

"  They  are  all  dead,  sir.  Some  were  killed  or  washed  over- 
board during  the  storm  ;  the  rest  were  drowned  at  the  time  of 
the  wreck." 

"  That  is  a  bad  business.  However,  begin  at  the  beginning, 
and  tell  the  story  your  own  way.  I  have  plenty  of  time  to 
listen  to  it,  and  the  fuller  you  make  it  the  better." 

Stephen  related  the  story,  from  the  time  of  his  leaving  the 
ship  until  he  had  anchored  in  the  bay.  As  he  saw  that  the 
admiral  wished  to  have  full  details,  he  told  the  story  at  length, 
and  the  sun  was  setting  by  the  time  he  brought  it  to  a  con- 
clusion. 

"You  have  done  wonderfully  well,  lad,"  Lord  Cochrane 
said  warmly  when  he  had  ceased  speaking,  "wonderfully  well 
indeed ;  no  one  could  have  done  better.  The  arrangements 
throughout  were  excellent,  and  you  showed  a  noble  spirit  in 
delaying  your  departure  for  four  days  in  order  to  assist  the 
poor  wretch  who  had  murdered  your  companion,  and  would 
have  murdered  yourself  in  his  greed  for  gold.  I  do  not  praise 
you  for  bringing  the  treasure  back  here ;  it  is  the  conduct  that 
I  should  expect  from  every  British  officer ;  but,  at  the  same 
time,  it  is  clear  that  you  had  it  in  your  power  to  leave  it 
buried  on  that  island,  so  that  you  could  have  gone  back  in 
some  craft,  and  brought  it  away  with  you.  I  shall  represent 
your  conduct  in  the  strongest  light  to  the  government.  By  the 
rules  of  the  service,  of  course,  you  are  entitled  only  to  a  junior 
officer's  share  of  the  ship's  portion  of  the  prize-money,  but  I 
shall  certainly  suggest  that  your  case  shall  be  specially  con- 
sidered. Now,  I  will  take  you  ashore  with  me.  I  am  going 
to  a  dinner  given  by  the  president,  and  I  shall  create  a  sensa- 
tion when  I  state  that  I  have,  after  deducting  a  fifth  for  the 
fleet's  share  of  the  prize-money,  four  hundred  thousand  dollars 
to  hand  over  to  them. 

"  I  shall  take  you  first  to  my  wife.     She  will  be  delighted 


242  WITH    COCHRANE    THE    DAUNTLESS 

to  see  you  again,  and  so  will  the  children.  You  can  give  her 
an  outline  of  your  story.  If  you  had  been  three  days  later 
you  would  not  have  found  me  here.  For  the  last  four  months 
I  have  been  endeavouring  to  get  my  ships  fitted  out,  but  in 
vain,  and  I  am  putting  to  sea  no  stronger  than  when  I  came 
back,  and  there  can  be  no  doubt  that,  profiting  by  their  last 
lesson,  the  Spaniards  will  have  made  Callao  stronger  than 
before.  However,  we  will  do  something  which  shall  be 
worthy  of  us,  though  I  fear  that  it  will  not  be  the  capture  of 
Callao." 

A  few  minutes  later  the  admiral's  gig  was  alongside,  and  the 
admiral,  his  captain,  and  Stephen  went  ashore.  Lady  Coch- 
rane  greeted  Stephen  as  warmly  and  kindly  as  her  husband 
had  done,  and  the  children  were  exuberant  in  their  delight  at 
the  return  of  their  friend. 

"He  has  a  wonderful  story  to  tell  you,  my  dear,"  Lord 
Cochrane  said.  "  It  has  taken  him  more  than  three  hours  to 
give  me  the  details,  and  you  will  have  a  greater  treat  listening 
to  them  this  evening  than  I  shall  have  at  this  state  dinner. ' ' 

"It  was  too  bad,  Don  Estevan,"  one  of  his  friends  said  to 
Stephen  next  morning,  "that  the  admiral  should  have  taken 
you  on  shore  with  him  yesterday  after  you  had  been  with  him 
all  the  afternoon.  We  had  been  looking  forward  to  having 
you  all  to  ourselves,  and  hearing  your  story.  You  may 
imagine  that  we  are  all  burning  with  curiosity  to  hear  how  it 
is  that  you  came  back  all  alone  in  that  curious  craft  astern, 
and,  above  all,  how  you  have  brought  with  you  this  prize- 
money.  All  we  have  heard  at  present  is  that  the  whole  of  the 
boat's  crew  that  went  with  you  are  dead.  I  promised  the 
others  that  I  would  not  ask  any  questions  until  our  morning's 
work  was  over,  so  that  we  could  hear  your  story  together." 

"  It  is  just  as  well  not  to  tell  it  by  driblets,"  Stephen  said. 
"  It  is  really  a  long  story,  as  it  consists  of  a  number  of  small 


PRIZE-MONEY  243 

things,  and  not  of  any  one  special  incident.  It  can  hardly  be 
cut  as  short  as  I  should  like  to  cut  it,  for  I  am  but  a  poor  hand 
at  a  yarn. ' ' 

After  the  usual  work  of  exercising  the  men  at  making  sail, 
preparing  for  action,  and  gun  and  cutlass  exercise  had  been 
performed,  anchor  again  cast,  ropes  coiled  up,  and  everything 
in  apple-pie  order,  the  Chilian  officers  rallied  round  Stephen, 
and,  taking  his  seat  on  the  breech  of  a  gun,  he  told  them  the 
story,  but  with  a  good  deal  less  detail  than  he  had  given  to 
Lord  Cochrane.  This  relation  elicited  the  greatest  admiration 
on  the  part  of  his  hearers.  The  fact  that  he  and  two  others 
alone,  and  without  any  tools  save  swords,  should  have  built 
the  stout  little  craft  astern,  and  that  he  should,  single-handed, 
have  sailed  her  some  thirteen  or  fourteen  hundred  miles  was 
to  them  nothing  short  of  marvellous.  All  had,  the  afternoon 
before,  gone  on  board  of  her,  and  had  seen  that  she  only 
wanted  paint  to  be  a  handsome  little  boat.  Unaccustomed  to 
manual  labour,  it  seemed  wonderful  that  three  men — two  of 
whom  were  officers — should  have  even  attempted  such  work 
with  only  the  materials  from  a  wreck  to  build  with. 

Stephen  had  passed  very  lightly  over  his  four  days'  nursing 
of  Jacopo,  but  this  incident  surprised  them  more  than  any- 
thing else,  save  the  construction  of  the  cutter.  That,  after  the 
man  had  murdered  the  captain  and  attempted  to  shoot  Ste- 
phen, with  the  intention  of  obtaining  possession  of  the  whole 
of  the  gold,  the  latter  should  have  nursed  him  back  to  life  in- 
stead of  finishing  him  at  once,  seemed  to  them  an  incompre- 
hensible piece  of  folly. 

"But  the  man  was  a  murderer,  sefior;  he  deserved  death. 
Why  should  you  have  troubled  about  him,  especially  when,  as 
you  say,  the  natives  might  have  come  at  any  moment  and 
taken  the  craft  that  had  cost  you  so  much  pains  and  labour, 
and  carried  off  the  treasure. ' ' 


244  WITH    COCHRANE    THE    DAUNTLESS 

' '  You  see,  when  he  became  powerless,  he  was  no  longer  an 
enemy,"  Stephen  replied.  "He  was  a  criminal,  it  is  true; 
but  the  temptation  had  been  great.  The  man  saw  a  chance  of 
possessing  himself  of  what  to  him  was  a  fabulous  treasure; 
better  men  than  he  have  yielded  to  such  a  temptation ;  and 
though  I  do  not  say  that  he  did  not  deserve  death,  the  punish- 
ment of  seeing  the  failure  of  his  plans,  and  of  being  left, 
probably  for  life,  a  prisoner  on  that  island,  was  a  severe  one 
indeed.  He  will,  at  any  rate,  have  time  to  repent  of  his  sins, 
and  some  day  he  may  be  picked  up  by  a  passing  vessel,  and 
thus  be  able  to  retrieve  his  errors.  At  any  rate,  he  will  do  no 
harm  there." 

"  Well,  no  ill  came  from  it,"  one  of  the  officers  said ;  "but 
I  own  that,  for  my  part,  as  soon  as  I  had  knocked  him 
down,  I  should  have  put  my  musket  to  his  head  and  blown 
out  his  brains,  and  should  never  have  repented  the  action 
afterwards. ' ' 

"I  might  have  done  so,"  Stephen  said,  "had  I  overtaken 
him  directly  after  he  had  murdered  my  companion  ;  but,  you 
see,  twenty-four  hours  had  passed,  and  I  had  had  time  to  think 
how  great  had  been  the  temptation  to  which  he  had  yielded. 
Besides,  everything  had  gone  well ;  I  had  obtained  possession 
of  the  cutter,  and  had  partially  victualled  her ;  I  had  complete- 
ly turned  the  tables  on  him,  and  instead  of  his  lying  in  wait  for 
me  I  was  lying  in  wait  for  him.  He  was  practically  at  my 
mercy,  as  I  could  have  shot  him  down  without  giving  him  any 
chance  whatever.  When  one  has  got  things  all  his  own  way 
one  can  afford  to  be  lenient.  The  man  had  been  already  very 
severely  wounded,  and  his  power  for  doing .  harm  was  at  an 
end.  At  any  rate,  I  am  very  glad  now  that  I  did  not  kill 
him.  And  you  must  remember  that  I  owed  him  something 
for  his  work  upon  the  cutter,  from  which  he  was  not  now  to 
profit,  but  which  was  to  afford  me  the  means  of  returning 


PRIZE-MONEY  245 

here  and  bringing  back  the  treasure  from  which  we  shall  all 
obtain  some  benefit." 

"  That  is  all  true,  Don  Estevan;  but  the  real  reason  of  all 
was  that  you  pitied  the  poor  wretch,  and  so  were  ready  to 
run  a  great  risk  to  succour  him.  We  might  not  have  acted 
as  you  did,  but  at  least  we  shall  all  love  you  the  better  for  it. 
As  to  the  prize-money,  it  is  ridiculous  that  our  share  of  it 
should  be  as  large  as  yours,  and  I  hope  the  government  will 
see  that,  under  the  circumstances,  you  have  a  right  to  a  hand- 
some slice  of  it,  for  indeed,  after  the  wreck  of  the  vessel,  it 
seems  to  me  that  their  claim  to  it  was  fairly  lost." 

"  I  cannot  see  that.     It  was  never  out  of  my  possession." 

"  I  don't  know,"  the  other  laughed.  "  They  were  two  to 
one  against  you,  and  probably  held  the  opinion  that  they  had 
as  much  right  to  its  possession  as  you." 

"If  they  had  been  Spaniards  it  might  have  been  so," 
Stephen  agreed  ;  "but  ycfa  see  the  treasure  had  never  been 
theirs,  and  from  the  moment  that  the  ship  surrendered  they 
had  nothing  whatever  to  do  with  it." 

"  Nothing  except  to  take  possession  of  it,  and  I  grant  that 
the  temptation  to  do  so  must  have  been  strong. ' ' 

"I  felt  that,"  Stephen  replied ;  "but  until  the  vessel  was 
completed  and  victualled  and  a  means  of  escape  open,  the 
gold  was  absolutely  useless,  and  therefore  the  question  as  to 
its  possession  would  not  really  arise  until  we  neared  land.  I 
did  think  it  probable  that  the  two  Peruvians  might  then  put 
in  a  claim  to  at  least  one  of  the  boxes  of  money  each ;  and  I 
had  made  up  my  mind  that  if  they  would  content  themselves 
with  this,  I  should  be  willing  for  them  to  land  somewhere 
along  the  coast  with  it,  rather  than  run  the  risk  of  a  fight, 
especially  as  I  could  not  possibly  have  kept  awake  night  and 
day,  and  they  must  therefore  have  had  me  in  their  power.  I 
am  sure  that  the  captain  meant  honestly,  and  under  the  cir- 


246  WITH    COCHRANE    THE    DAUNTLESS 

cumstances  his  claim  to  a  portion  of  the  money,  that  he  and 
his  companion  had  done  as  much  as  I  had  to  save,  would  not 
have  been  an  unfair  one." 

"  It  would  have  been  terrible  had  the  natives  arrived  when 
you  were  building  the  boat,  Don  Estevan." 

"It  would  have  been  terrible  for  them,"  Stephen  said, 
"  but  it  would  have  hurt  us  but  little,  for  had  they  discovered 
our  fort  they  could  never  have  taken  it.  With  our  twenty- 
four  muskets  we  could  have  held  it  against  any  number  of 
savages,  while  as  for  the  boat  it  would  have  been  useless  to 
them,  and  they  could  scarcely  have  injured  it.  Even  when 
it  was  finished  there  was  nothing  on  board  to  attract  them. 
They  might  have  knocked  away  the  props  and  tumbled  her 
over,  but  they  would  have  had  to  blockade  us  in  our  fort 
while  they  did  anything  to  her ;  for  otherwise  we  could  have 
moved  along  the  cliff  to  a  point  where  we  should  have  com- 
manded the  boat,  and  could  there  have  kept  up  a  fire  that 
would  have  speedily  driven  them  from  her. 

"  No ;  we  had  no  fear  whatever  of  the  natives  from  the 
time  we  had  once  finished  our  wattle-work  of  thorny  creepers 
until  the  day  when  we  got  her  into  the  water.  After  that 
we  were  certainly  horribly  anxious,  for  they  might  have  taken 
it  into  their  heads  to  tow  her  away  with  them,  for  the  purpose 
of  breaking  her  up  at  their  leisure  for  the  sake  of  the  bolts  and 
nails." 

In  the  afternoon  Lord  Cochrane  took  Stephen  ashore  with 
him.  ''The  president  and  the  council  desire  to  thank  you 
personally,  Mr.  Embleton,  as  I  told  you  last  night  as  we  came 
off.  After  dinner  I  gave  them  a  brief  recital  of  your  advent- 
ure, and  said  publicly  that  I  considered  you  were  entitled  to 
a  handsome  share  of  the  prize-money  which  you  had  almost 
miraculously  brought  back,  and  the  president  thoroughly  en- 
dorsed my  views.  The  money  is  of  the  greatest  consequence 


PRIZE-MONEY  247 

to  them  at  the  present  moment,  for  they  are  absolutely  crip- 
pled, so  much  so  that  I  deemed  it  right,  some  time  back,  to 
offer  to  hand  over  to  them  my  share  of  the  prize-money  for 
the  captures  we  had  effected.  They  declined  the  offer,  to  my 
regret,  for  though  I  am  far  from  being  a  rich  man,  I  would 
willingly  have  given  the  money  in  order  to  get  to  sea  again." 

Stephen  was  warmly  thanked  by  President  O'Higgins  for 
his  great  service  to  the  republic,  and  highly  complimented  on 
his  conduct.  He  announced  to  him  that  he  and  the  council 
had  decided  to  present  him  with  the  sum  of  twenty-five  thou- 
sand dollars  as  a  recognition  of  his  services. 

"  We  consider,"  he  said,  "  that  you  deserve  a  much  larger 
sum,  but  the  circumstances  of  the  state  are  such  that  we  feel 
it  is  impossible  for  us  to  do  more  than  the  barest  justice  at 
the  present  time.  We  have,  however,  decided  upon  raising 
you  at  once  to  the  rank  of  lieutenant.  Lord  Cochrane  told 
me  last  night  that  such  promotion,  before  you  had  served  your 
full  time,  was  quite  contrary  to  the  rules  of  the  service ;  but 
we  considered  this  an  altogether  exceptional  case,  and  that 
you  have  amply  proved  yourself  to  be  fully  capable  of  carry- 
ing out  the  duties  of  any  rank  to  which  you  may  attain." 

Stephen  in  a  few  words  thanked  the  president  and  the  coun- 
cil very  heartily,  and  then  retired  with  the  admiral. 

"  That  is  a  nice  little  nest-egg  for  you,  Stephen,"  the  lat- 
ter said.  "I  consider  that  it  ought  to  have  been  fifty  thou- 
sand, but  their  necessities  are  so  great  that  they  cannot  afford 
to  be  generous. ' ' 

"I  consider  that  it  is  immense,  sir,"  Stephen  replied, 
"  and  had  never  any  thought  of  a  reward  for  doing  my  duty." 

"  You  will  not  want  the  money  out  here,  lad,"  the  admi- 
ral went  on;  "at  any  rate,  your  share  of  the  ship's  prize- 
money  will  be  ample  for  anything  that  you  may  require.  If 
you  like,  therefore,  I  will  hand  over  your  box  along  with  my 


248  WITH    COCHRANE   THE   DAUNTLESS 

own  share  of  the  prize-money  to  the  firm  here  who  act  as  my 
bankers,  and  they  will  give  you  an  order  on  their  bankers  in 
London,  which  you  can  send  to  your  father  to  draw  and  in- 
vest in  your  name  or  otherwise,  as  you  may  prefer. 

"  Thank  you  very  much,  sir.  You  will,  I  hope,  be  kind 
enough  to  let  me  continue  to  perform  the  duties  of  your  flag- 
midshipman." 

"  You  will  become  my  flag-lieutenant,  Stephen.  The  post 
is  vacant,  for  Don  Valdes  was  yesterday  appointed  to  the  com- 
mand of  the  Independencia,  an  American  -  built  corvette  of 
twenty-eight  guns  that  has  been  purchased  and  fitted  out." 

On  the  1 2th  of  September,  1819,  the  fleet  set  sail  from 
Valparaiso.  It  consisted  of  the  O 'Htggins,  San  Martin, 
Lautaro,  Independenda,  Galvarino,  Araucano,  and  Pnyrredon, 
mounting  in  all  two  hundred  and  twenty  guns.  There  were 
also  two  old  merchant  ships  to  be  used  as  fire-vessels.  On 
the  agth  they  entered  the  Callao  roads.  The  next  day  Lord 
Cochrane  sent  in  a  boat  with  a  flag  of  truce,  and  challenged 
the  Viceroy  to  come  out  for  a  fair  fight.  The  challenge  was 
rejected,  although  the  Spanish  fleet  was  nearly  twice  as  strong 
as  that  of  Chili. 

On  the  night  of  the  2nd  an  attack  was  made,  but  failed, 
owing  to  the  rockets,  from  which  much  had  been  hoped,  turn- 
ing out  useless.  They  had  been  manufactured  in  Chili  by 
Spanish  prisoners,  and  had  been  so  badly  constructed  that 
they  inflicted  far  more  damage  upon  the  men  who  fired  them 
than  upon  those  against  whom  they  were  aimed.  On  the  5th 
a  fire-ship  was  despatched  with  the  intention  of  destroying  the 
booms  that  protected  the  harbour  ;  but  a  sudden  calm  came 
on,  and  the  ship  was  riddled  with  shot  from  the  Spanish  guns 
and  was  fast  sinking  when  she  exploded,  but  was  too  far 
distant  from  the  booms  to  injure  either  them  or  the  shipping. 
Finding  himself  thus  unable  to  get  at  the  enemy,  Lord  Coch- 


PRIZE-MONEY  249 

rane  was  obliged  to  abandon  for  a  time  his  project  of  taking 
Callao. 

The  fresh  supply  of  provisions  promised  from  Chili  had  not 
arrived,  and  sickness  broke  out  on  board  the  fleet.  The  admiral 
continued  to  watch  the  port  for  some  weeks,  despatching  an 
expedition  which  captured  the  town  of  Pisco,  and  obtaining  the 
much-needed  provisions.  On  the  2ist  of  November  the  sick 
were  sent  off  to  Valparaiso  in  charge  of  the  San  Martin,  the 
Independencia,  and  the  Araucano,  while  with  the  remainder  of 
the  fleet  Lord  Cochrane  sailed  to  the  mouth  of  the  river  Guay- 
aquil, where  he  captured  two  large  Spanish  vessels,  mounting 
together  thirty -six  guns  and  laden  with  timber.  After  a  delay 
of  a  fortnight,  occasioned  by  a  mutiny  attempted  by  Captains 
Guise  and  Spry,  he  sent  one  of  his  ships  with  the  prizes  to 
Valparaiso,  left  two  others  to  watch  the  Peruvian  coast,  and 
started  alone  in  his  flag -ship  with  the  intention  of  under- 
taking the  capture  of  Valdivia;  for  at  that  time  the  southern 
portion  of  what  is  now  Chili  remained  in  the  hands  of  the 
Spaniards. 

Valdivia  was  a  very  strongly  fortified  place,  and  was  re- 
garded as  impregnable  by  the  Spaniards  ;  and  it  was  from 
this  port  that  they  directed  their  attacks  upon  Chili  from  the 
south,  just  as  they  did  on  the  north  from  Callao.  To  reach 
it  he  therefore  had  to  sail  south  from  the  Guayaquil  along  the 
coast  of  Peru  and  then  past  that  of  Chili.  On  approaching 
the  fortress  he  hoisted  Spanish  colours  and  made  a  signal  for  a 
pilot.  The  Spaniards,  having  no  idea  that  there  was  a  Chilian 
war -ship  on  that  coast,  at  once  sent  one  off,  together  with  an 
officer  and  four  men.  These  were  promptly  made  prisoners. 
The  pilot  was  ordered  to  take  the  ship  through  the  channels 
leading  to  the  port,  and  much  information  was  obtained  from 
the  other  prisoners  as  to  the  fortifications  of  the  place.  As 
they  sailed  up  the  channel,  the  idea  that  the  stranger  was  an 


250  WITH    COCHRANE   THE   DAUNTLESS 

enemy  occurred  to  the  commander  of  the  fortress,  and  the 
non-return  of  the  boat  with  the  officer  confirming  this  sus- 
picion, a  heavy  fire  was  opened  upon  the  O' Higgtns  ;  she  did 
not  reply,  but  continued  her  work  of  investigating  the  chan- 
nel, and  then  withdrew  out  of  range. 

Two  days  were  spent  in  further  reconnaissances  of  the 
approaches,  and  on  the  third  day  a  brig  was  captured  entering 
the  port.  She  carried  some  important  despatches,  and  twenty 
thousand  dollars  for  the  payment  of  the  troops.  Having 
ascertained  the  nature  of  the  difficulties  to  be  encountered, 
Lord  Cochrane  sailed  away  to  Concepcion,  two  hundred  miles 
distant,  and  obtained  from  the  Chilian  governor  a  force  of  two 
hundred  and  fifty  soldiers  under  Major  Beauchef,  a  French 
officer  in  their  service.  He  there  found  a  Chilian  schooner, 
which  he  attached  to  his  service,  and  a  Brazilian  brig,  which 
volunteered  its  aid ;  with  them  he  sailed  for  Valdivia.  On 
the  night  of  the  29th  they  were  off  the  island  of  Quiriquina. 
Owing  to  the  incompetence  of  his  officers  the  admiral  had 
been  obliged  to  personally  superintend  everything  that  was 
done  on  board,  and  when  the  ship  was  becalmed  lay  down  for 
a  few  minutes'  sleep,  leaving  orders  that  he  was  to  be  called 
at  once  if  a  breeze  sprung  up.  A  breeze  did  spring  up ;  the 
officer  of  the  watch  was  asleep,  and  a  sudden  gust  carried  the 
vessel  on  to  a  sharp  rock,  where  she  hung  beating  heavily. 

They  were  then  forty  miles  from  the  mainland,  and  the 
brig  and  schooner  were  both  out  of  sight.  For  a  short  time  a 
panic  took  place  among  the  crew,  and  officers  and  men  made 
for  the  boats.  The  admiral,  followed  by  Stephen,  rushed  on 
deck,  pistol  in  hand,  and  the  former  soon  succeeded  in  calming 
the  panic,  his  authority  among  the  men  being  unbounded.  He 
pointed  out  that  the  boats  would  carry  but  a  hundred  and 
fifty  men,  and  that  there  were  six  hundred  on  board,  so  that 
were  a  rush  to  take  place  to  the  boats,  they  would  assuredly 


PRIZE-MONEY  251 

be  overcrowded  and  perhaps  sink,  while,  should  any  gain  the 
shore,  the  occupants  would  be  made  prisoners,  and  would 
certainly  be  put  to  death  by  the  Spaniards.  Their  only  hope, 
therefore,  was  to  get  the  ship  off. 

On  sounding  the  well  it  was  found  that  there  were  five  feet 
of  water  in  the  hold.  The  pumps  were  out  of  order,  the  car- 
penter utterly  inefficient,  and  Lord  Cochrane,  taking  off  his 
coat,  himself  set  to  work  to  repair  them,  ordering  Stephen  to 
keep  the  men  at  work  baling  with  buckets ;  the  captain  being 
under  arrest  for  disobedience  to  orders,  and  the  one  other 
lieutenant  absolutely  incompetent.  When  the  pumps  were  got 
to  work  it  was  found  that  they  and  the  buckets  sufficed  to 
prevent  the  water  from  rising,  and  preparations  were  at  once 
made  to  get  the  vessel  off  the  rock.  There  was  danger  that 
when  this  was  done  she  might  sink,  but  Lord  Cochrane  pointed 
out  that  the  leak  was  not  likely  to  increase,  and  declared  he 
had  no  doubt  that  she  would  swim  as  far  as  Valdivia.  The 
anchors  were  got  out  astern,  the  crew  set  to  heave  on  them, 
and  it  was  not  long  before  she  floated  off.  But  it  was  found 
that  the  water  had  entered  the  magazine,  and  that  the  whole 
of  the  ammunition,  except  a  little  on  deck  and  in  the  cartridge- 
boxes  of  the  soldiers,  was  rendered  unserviceable. 

This  accident  would,  with  a  less  determined  commander, 
have  put  an  end  to  their  enterprise ;  but  Lord  Cochrane  relied, 
not  upon  the  ship's  guns  but  upon  the  men,  and  considered 
that  as  these  could  not  fire  they  would  be  obliged  to  trust  to 
their  bayonets,  and  that  the  chances  of  success  would  not 
therefore  be  diminished.  In  the  morning  they  were  joined 
by  the  schooner  and  brig,  and  on  approaching  Valdivia  as 
many  men  as  possible  were  transferred  to  the  two  small  ves- 
sels. The  admiral  went  on  board  the  schooner,  and  ordered 
the  O'Higgins  to  stand  out  to  sea,  as  he  intended  she  should 
be  used  only  in  case  of  necessity.  The  channel  leading  up  to 


252  WITH    COCHRANE   THE   DAUNTLESS 

the  town  was  three-quarters  of  a  mile  in  width,  and  was  com- 
manded by  six  large  forts  on  the  western  shore,  two  on  the 
eastern,  and  a  very  large  fort  on  an  island,  with  six  minor 
forts  well  situated  for  defence.  The  position  was  all  but  im- 
pregnable, and,  indeed,  the  surf  was  so  heavy  that  it  was  im- 
possible for  a  landing  to  be  effected  save  at  a  spot  close  to 
Fort  Ingles. 

Having  made  all  his  preparations,  Lord  Cochrane  sailed  on 
to  the  port,  and  boldly  entered  the  channel.  The  troops 
were  all  sent  below,  while  the  two  little  vessels  entered,  and 
anchored  boldly  off  Fort  Ingles.  The  swell  was  so  heavy  that 
even  the  landing-place  was  unapproachable.  The  boats  had 
been  towed  on  the  lee  side  of  the  ships,  and  when  shouted  to 
to  send  a  boat  ashore  an  answer  was  given  that  these  had  been 
lost  in  a  storm.  The  Spaniards,  however,  were  not  satisfied, 
and  alarm -guns  were  fired  and  troops  brought  up  from  the 
other  forts.  No  hostile  steps  were  taken,  however,  until,  some 
time  later,  one  of  the  boats  drifted  astern.  The  Spaniards 
had  no  longer  any  doubt  as  to  the  nature  of  the  two  vessels, 
and  Fort  Ingles  at  once  opened  fire  upon  them,  the  first  shot 
passing  through  the  brig  and  killing  two  men.  It  became 
necessary,  therefore,  to  land  at  once,  in  spite  of  the  surf.  They 
had  but  two  launches  and  a  gig  altogether ;  Lord  Cochrane 
took  charge  of  the  gig,  while  Major  Miller,  who  commanded 
the  marines  of  the  O*  Higgins,  embarked  on  board  one  of  the 
launches. 

They  got  safely  through  the  swell,  and  in  spite  of  a  heavy 
fire  from  the  Spanish  troops  effected  a  landing.  They  at  once 
rushed  upon  the  Spaniards,  who  came  down  from  the  forts 
to  oppose  them,  and  drove  them  back  at  the  point  of  the 
bayonet.  The  second  boat  quickly  arrived  from  the  brig, 
both  returning  to  the  ships,  and  in  less  than  an  hour  three 
hundred  men  had  landed.  From  the  spot  where  they  had 


A    PRISONER  253 

obtained  a  footing,  the  only  approach  to  Fort  Ingles  was  by  a 
precipitous  path  which  could  only  be  passed  in  single  file. 
The  fort  itself  was  only  accessible  by  a  ladder  that  had  been 
drawn  up,  as  soon  as  the  party  driven  back  from  the  landing- 
place  had  returned.  An  attack  seemed  well-nigh  hopeless ; 
but  the  Chilians'  confidence  in  their  leader  was  unbounded, 
and  none  doubted  but  that  success  would  attend  their  efforts. 
It  was  already  late  in  the  afternoon  when  they  landed,  and 
while  waiting  for  darkness  to  cover  the  operations,  they  were 
sheltered  by  the  nature  of  the  ground  from  the  fire  of  the  large 
body  of  troops  which  had  assembled  in  the  fort. 


CHAPTER   XIV 

A    PRISONER 

AS  soon  as  it  was  dark  the  admiral  prepared  for  the  attack. 
From  the  prisoners  he  had  learned  all  details  as  to  the 
fort,  and  found  that  while  almost  impregnable  from  the  river 
face,  the  flank  of  the  fort  was  defended  chiefly  by  a  strong 
palisading.  He  detached  a  small  party  of  marines,  under 
Ensign  Vidal,  to  endeavour  to  enter  at  that  point.  Another 
party  then  silently  moved  forward  to  the  direct  attack  of  the 
fort,  and  as  soon  as  it  had  taken  up  its  position  under  the 
wall,  the  main  body  advanced,  cheering  and  firing.  The 
enemy  at  once  opened  a  heavy  fire  of  artillery  and  musketry, 
but  in  the  dark  they  were  unable  to  take  aim,  and  but  little 
damage  was  caused  by  their  fire.  The  movement  had  the 
result  intended — of  occupying  the  whole  attention  of  the  eight 
hundred  men  in  the  fort,  and  of  drowning  any  noise  that 
might  be  made  by  those  tearing  down  the  palisades. 

With  great  exertions  Ensign  Vidal  succeeded  in  getting  up 


254  WITH    COCHRANE    THE    DAUNTLESS 

a  couple  of  the  beams ;  he  and  his  men  passed  through  the 
opening,  used  the  beams  as  a  bridge  across  a  wet  ditch  inside 
the  palisade,  and  then  advanced  noiselessly  until  near  the 
Spaniards,  into  whom  they  fired  a  volley.  The  Spaniards 
were  seized  with  a  sudden  panic  at  finding  themselves  thus 
unexpectedly  taken  in  flank,  and  instantly  took  to  flight.  The 
moment  the  fire  of  the  marines  told  the  admiral  that  the  flank 
attack  had  succeeded,  he  led  the  main  body  round  to  the  rear 
of  the  fort.  The  Spaniards,  as  they  poured  out  there,  com- 
municated their  panic  to  a  body  of  three  hundred  troops 
drawn  up  behind  in  reserve,  and  the  whole  fled  towards  the 
next  fort,  followed  hotly  by  the  Chilians,  who  bayoneted 
numbers  of  them,  and  pressed  so  closely  on  their  heels  that 
they  entered  the  works,  one  after  the  other,  with  them,  driv- 
ing them  from  fort  to  fort,  together  with  two  hundred  men 
who  had  been  placed  with  a  battery  of  guns  on  rising  ground 
to  sweep  the  rear  of  the  forts. 

The  last  of  these,  the  castle  of  Coral,  was  stormed  with 
scarcely  any  opposition,  the  enemy  thinking  only  of  escape. 
Numbers  of  them  got  away  in  boats  to  Valdivia,  while  the 
rest  plunged  into  the  forests  behind  the  forts.  Little  over  a 
hundred  prisoners  were  taken,  and  a  like  number  of  men  were 
killed,  their  panic  having  been  too  great  for  anything  like  re- 
sistance to  be  offered.  On  the  Chilian  side  the  loss  was  seven 
men  killed  and  nine  wounded.  The  fall  of  all  the  western 
forts  practically  entailed  that  of  Valdivia,  for  while  prepara- 
tions were  being  made  to  attack  the  eastern  forts,  the  O' Hig- 
gins  appeared  off  the  mouth  of  the  river,  and  the  Spaniards, 
seeing  this  reinforcement  to  their  foes,  at  once  abandoned  the 
remaining  forts  and  the  town,  and  retreated  into  the  interior. 
The  booty  taken  by  the  Chilians  included  fifty  tons  of  gun- 
powder and  ten  thousand  cannon  -  shot.  One  hundred  and 
seventy  thousand  musket  cartridges,  a  large  number  of  mus- 


A    PRISONER  255 

kets,  and  one  hundred  and  twenty-eight  cannon  also  fell  into 
the  hands  of  the  victors.  A  large  ship  with  valuable  stores, 
together  with  a  quantity  of  plate  taken  by  the  Spaniards  from 
Chilian  churches,  also  were  captured. 

The  value  of  the  conquest  was  not,  however,  to  be  reckoned 
by  the  amount  of  spoil  taken.  Its  effect  on  the  struggle  was 
enormous.  It  raised  the  spirits  of  the  Chilians  to  the  highest 
pitch,  whilst  it  brought  home  to  the  mind  of  the  Spanish 
government  the  hopelessness  of  continuing  a  struggle  against 
an  enemy  so  well  led,  and  capable  of  carrying  out  the  most 
desperate  enterprises. 

Although  Lord  Cochrane  was  received  with  unbounded 
enthusiasm  by  the  population  at  large  on  his  return  to  Val- 
paraiso, his  success  had  excited  the  jealousy  of  the  minister  of 
marine  and  other  officials,  and  by  them  he  was  treated  with 
the  grossest  ingratitude.  They  even  proposed  to  bring  him 
^o  court  -  martial  for  having  exceeded  his  orders ;  and  al- 
though the  indignation  the  proposal  excited  compelled  them 
to  abandon  this,  it  was  but  to  resort  to  other  measures  hostile 
to  him. 

It  was  months  before  the  fleet  received  their  share  of  the 
prize-money  of  the  capture  of  Valdivia,  in  spite  of  the  ad- 
miral's earnest  efforts  on  their  behalf.  His  own  share,  which 
was  sixty-seven  thousand  dollars,  he  never  received  at  all.  He 
failed  altogether  in  his  endeavour  to  obtain  a  fleet  of  sufficient 
force  to  attempt  the  capture  of  Callao,  and  for  many  months 
was  kept  in  a  state  of  inactivity.  So  irritating  was  the  perse- 
cution to  which  he  was  subjected,  that  on  the  i4th  of  May  he 
tendered  his  resignation. 

The  resignation  was  refused,  but  nothing  was  done. 
O'Higgins,  who  was  an  honest  man,  was  practically  power- 
less, as  the  entire  government  was  in  the  hands  of  a  senate  of 
five  members,  which  assumed  dictatorial  powers,  and  without 


256  WITH    COCHRANE   THE    DAUNTLESS 

whose  approval  nothing  whatever  could  be  done.  It  was  de* 
termined,  however,  to  raise  an  army  for  the  liberation  of 
Peru  ;  and  although  Lord  Cochrane  had  vainly  asked  the  year 
before  for  a  small  land  force  to  capture  Callao,  an  army  was 
now  raised  without  difficulty  by  the  dictators,  and  General 
San  Martin  was  placed  in  command.  This  man  had  rendered 
good  service  to  Chili  when,  in  conjunction  with  O'Higgins, 
he  had  led  the  movement  of  independence ;  but  his  success 
had  turned  his  head.  He  was  vain  and  arrogant,  and  at  the 
same  time  dilatory  and  vacillating.  He,  like  the  dictators, 
was  jealous  of  the  success  and  popularity  of  Lord  Cochrane, 
and  was  bent  upon  thwarting  him  to  the  utmost.  His  army, 
four  thousand  two  hundred  strong,  was  embarked  at  Valpa- 
raiso in  the  ships  of  the  squadron.  Lord  Cochrane  proposed 
to  him  to  land  at  Chilka,  the  nearest  point  to  Lima  and 
Callao.  San  Martin,  however,  chose  Pisco,  and  the  troops 
were  landed  there  on  the  i8th  of  September.  For  fifty  days 
they  remained  there  doing  nothing,  the  fleet  being  compelled 
to  remain  inactive  off  the  port. 

On  the  28th  of  October  they  were  re-embarked.  San  Mar- 
tin again  refused  to  listen  to  Lord  Cochrane's  proposal  for  a 
vigorous  attack  upon  Callao  and  Lima,  and  requested  to  be 
landed  at  Ancon,  a  port  as  unsuitable  for  the  purpose  as  was 
Pisco.  Lord  Cochrane,  however,  determined  that  the  fleet, 
furnished  at  such  expense  and  effort  by  Chili,  should  not  be 
wholly  wasted,  and  when  he  sent  his  ships  in  to  anchor  off  the 
port,  he  retained  the  O'  Higgins,  the  Independencia,  and  the 
Lautaro,  with  the  professed  intention  of  blockading  Callao  at 
a  distance.  His  real  intention  was,  however,  to  cut  out  the 
Esmcralda  from  under  the  guns  of  the  forts,  and  also  to  carry 
off  another  ship,  on  board  which,  as  he  had  learned,  a  million 
dollars  were  embarked.  The  Esmeralda  was  a  forty-four  gun 
frigate,  and  was  considered  the  finest  Spanish  war -ship  in  the 


A    PRISONER  257 

Pacific.  She  lay  under  the  protection  of  three  hundred  guns 
on  shore,  and  a  strong  boom  moored  by  chains  at  short  inter- 
vals ;  while  near  her  lay  twenty-seven  gun-boats  and  several 
vessels  that  had  been  armed  for  the  defence  of  the  port.  Only 
two  or  three  of  his  officers  knew  of  his  intentions  until  a  few 
hours  before  his  intended  attack,  when  he  issued  a  proclama- 
tion to  the  seamen  and  marines,  telling  them  that  they  had 
now  an  opportunity  for  dealing  the  enemy  a  mortal  blow,  and 
repeating  the  triumph  of  Valdivia. 

Volunteers  were  asked  for,  and  the  whole  of  the  sailors  and 
marines  from  the  three  ships  offered  to  follow  Lord  Cochrane 
wherever  he  might  lead  them.  This  was  a  much  larger  force 
than  he  required,  and  one  hundred  and  eighty  sailors  and 
eighty  marines  were  chosen  for  the  work.  This  force  was 
gradually  transferred  to  the  flag -ship,  and  the  other  two  vessels 
sailed  out  of  the  bay  just  before  darkness  came  on,  as  if  in 
chase  of  some  ship  they  had  sighted — a  ruse  well  calculated 
to  lull  the  Spaniards  into  security.  The  men  intended  for 
the  service  then  took  their  places  in  fourteen  boats  that  lay 
hidden  behind  the  flag-ship.  All  were  dressed  in  white,  with 
a  blue  band  on  the  left  arm,  in  order  that  they  might  distin- 
guish each  other  in  the  dark.  At  ten  o'clock  the  boats 
pushed  off  in  two  directions,  commanded  respectively  by 
Captain  Crosby  and  Captain  Guise,  while  the  admiral  led  the 
way  in  his  launch.  It  was  just  twelve  o'clock  when  the  boats 
arrived  at  a  small  opening  in  the  boom.  The  oars  had  been 
muffled,  and  so  perfectly  had  silence  been  observed,  that  the 
admiral's  launch  ran  against  a  guard-boat  lying  at  the  entrance, 
without  its  approach  having  been  observed  by  the  Spaniards. 
There  was  a  hasty  challenge  by  the  startled  officer  in  com- 
mand, to  which  the  admiral  himself  replied  by  threatening 
the  occupants  of  the  boat  with  instant  death  if  they  gave  the 
slightest  alarm. 


258  WITH    COCHRANE    THE    DAUNTLESS 

The  threat,  and  the  appearance  of  the  boats  dashing  in 
through  the  opening,  had  its  effect.  No  word  was  spoken  by 
the  Spaniards,  and  in  a  few  minutes  the  flotilla  of  vessels 
rowed  down  in  line  upon  the  frigate,  and  boarded  her  at  a 
dozen  points  simultaneously.  The  Chilians  had  been  ordered 
not  to  use  their  pistols,  but  to  rely  wholly  on  their  cutlasses. 
The  sentries  on  the  frigate  shouted  the  alarm,  and  the  Span- 
iards, snatching  up  their  arms,  rushed  up  from  below.  Many 
were  cut  down  at  once  by  the  Chilians,  the  rest  retreated  to 
the  forecastle  and  made  a  gallant  stand,  and  it  was  not  until 
the  Chilians  had  made  three  charges  upon  them  that  they  gave 
way,  some  leaping  overboard,  and  others  running  below.  The 
Spanish  marines  gathered  on  the  quarter-deck,  and  they  too 
fought  with  great  bravery.  Not  one  among  them  asked  for 
quarter  or  sought  safety  in  flight,  but  continued  the  struggle 
until  the  last  man  fell. 

The  admiral  himself  had  been  very  unfortunate.  He  had 
swung  himself  up  into  the  main-chains  the  moment  his  boat 
touched  the  frigate,  and  was  about  to  leap  upon  the  deck  of 
the  Esmeralda  when  he  was  struck  on  the  head  by  a  Spanish 
sentry  with  his  clubbed  musket  and  fell  back  into  the  boat. 
He  fell  upon  one  of  the  rowlocks,  which  entered  his  back  near 
the  spine,  inflicting  a  very  severe  injury,  from  whose  effects  he 
suffered  for  several  years  after.  In  spite  of  the  agony  caused 
by  the  wound  he  again  clambered  up  on  to  the  deck,  and  was 
almost  immediately  shot  through  the  thigh.  He  bound  a 
handkerchief  tightly  round  it,  and  managed  to  direct  the 
operations  until  the  capture  was  complete.  The  affair  occu- 
pied but  a  quarter  of  an  hour,  the  Chilian  loss  being  eleven 
killed  and  thirty  wounded,  while  a  hundred  and  sixty  of  the 
Spaniards  fell.  While  this  was  going  on,  the  garrison  of  the 
forts,  awakened  by  the  uproar,  ran  to  their  guns  and  opened 
fire  on  the  Esmeralda,  several  of  the  Spaniards,  among  them 


A    PRISONER  259 

their  captain,  and  two  or  three  of  the  Chilians,  being  killed 
or  wounded  by  their  shot. 

It  happened  that  in  the  harbour  at  the  time  were  two  neutral 
frigates — one  British,  the  other  an  American.  It  had  been 
arranged  between  them  and  the  Spanish  authorities  that  in  the 
event  of  a  night  attack  they  were  to  show  lights  in  a  particu- 
lar position,  so  that  they  might  not  be  fired  upon.  This  they 
did,  but  by  the  admiral's  orders  similar  lights  were  at  once 
hoisted  on  board  the  Esmeralda,  thus  causing  much  confusion 
among  the  Spaniards.  Both  the  neutral  frigates  were  hit  sev- 
eral times,  while  but  few  shots  struck  the  Esmeralda.  Lord 
Cochrane  was  now  forced  by  his  wounds  to  leave  it  to  Captain 
Guise,  the  next  senior  officer,  to  carry  out  the  orders  that  he 
had  previously  given,  namely,  that  the  brig  with  the  bullion 
on  board  was  first  to  be  captured,  then  that  every  ship  was  to 
be  attacked  and  cut  adrift.  The  success  of  these  operations 
was  certain,  as  the  Spaniards,  directly  they  saw  the  Esmeralda 
captured,  had  taken  to  their  boats  and  made  for  shore,  and 
the  whole  of  the  Spanish  vessels  might  have  been  either  burnt 
or  captured.  Captain  Guise  had  all  along  thwarted  the  ad- 
miral's plans  to  the  utmost  of  his  power,  had  fomented  sev- 
eral mutinies,  and  should  have  been  tried  and  shot  long  before. 
He  now,  instead  of  carrying  out  the  orders,  cut  the  Esmeral- 
dd1  s  cables,  hoisted  her  sails,  and  steered  through  the  opening 
in  the  boom. 

Although  marred  by  the  treachery,  or  at  any  rate  gross 
misconduct  of  Cochrane's  subordinates,  the  capture  of  the 
Esmeralda  exercised  almost  as  great  an  influence  on  the 
fortunes  of  the  struggle  as  did  that  of  Valdivia.  It  was  a 
death-blow  to  the  Spanish  naval  force  in  the  Pacific;  for 
although  they  had  still  two  frigates  and  some  smaller  craft 
in  those  waters,  they  never  afterwards  ventured  to  put  to 
sea,  of  which  the  Chilians  now  became  absolute  masters. 


260  WITH    COCHRANE   THE   DAUNTLESS 

The  action,  in  fact,  ensured  the  success  of  the  Chilian  effort 
to  free  Peru. 

San  Martin  now  requested  Lord  Cochrane  to  re-embark  the 
army  once  more,  and  carry  it  to  Huacha.  This  was  done,  and 
there  San  Martin  remained  without  doing  any  more  than  he 
had  done  at  the  two  other  ports.  After  having  landed  him 
the  fleet  returned  to  Callao,  where  they  used  every  effort  to 
tempt  the  Spanish  war-ships  to  venture  out,  but  without  suc- 
cess. The  effect,  however,  of  these  operations  showed  itself 
in  other  ways.  On  the  3rd  of  December  six  hundred  and  fifty 
Peruvian  soldiers  deserted  from  the  Spanish  service,  and  two 
days  later  forty  officers  followed  them,  and  from  that  time 
defections  took  place  almost  daily. 

San  Martin  now  made  no  secret  of  his  intention  to  assume 
the  dictatorship  of  Peru.  He  had  for  so  many  months  kept 
his  army  inactive,  in  order  that  he  might  in  time  be  able  to 
enforce  his  authority.  What  he  would  not  do,  however,  was 
accomplished  by  Lord  Cochrane.  Weary  of  the  long  delay  he 
offered  in  the  following  March  to  capture  Lima  if  two  thous- 
and soldiers  were  assigned  to  him.  This  offer  was  refused, 
but  after  some  time  he  obtained  a  force  of  six  hundred.  With 
these  he  effected  a  landing  at  port  after  port  along  the  coast, 
and  so  harassed  the  Spaniards  that,  on  the  6th  of  July,  Lima 
capitulated  and  Peru  was  free.  San  Martin  at  once  pro- 
claimed himself  protector  of  Peru,  and  appointed  two  of  his 
creatures  as  chief  ministers.  Lord  Cochrane  in  vain  attempted 
to  obtain  from  him  payment  for  the  sailors  of  the  fleet,  who 
had  been  very  many  months  without  receiving  a  penny. 

San  Martin  insolently  replied  that  he  would  pay  nothing 
whatever  to  Chili,  but  that  he  would  make  Lord  Cochrane  a 
Peruvian  admiral  if  he  would  leave  the  service  of  Chili  for 
that  of  Peru.  Lord  Cochrane  knew  that  Chili  would  decline 
to  pay  for  work  that  had  been  done  to  make  Peru,  like  itself, 


A    PRISONER  2G1 

free  and  independent,  since  it  was  now  as  prostrate  at  the  feet 
of  San  Martin  as  it  had  been  at  those  of  the  Spaniards.  The 
army  it  had  raised  had  betrayed  it  and  taken  service  under  San 
Martin,  as  had  the  two  mutinous  scoundrels,  Captains  Guise 
and  Spry.  Lord  Cochrane,  therefore,  determined  to  take  by 
force  the  money  due  to  the  fleet.  At  Ancon  there  was  a  large 
amount  of  treasure  seized  from  the  Spaniards.  It  had  been 
deposited  by  San  Martin  there,  and  in  the  middle  of  September 
the  admiral  landed,  and  took  possession  of  it  without  opposi- 
tion. Of  the  two  hundred  and  eighty-five  thousand  dollars 
found  there,  he  paid  a  year's  arrears  to  every  officer  and  man 
in  the  fleet,  taking  nothing,  however,  for  himself,  and  reserv- 
ing the  small  surplus  for  the  pressing  wants  and  equipments  of 
the  fleet. 

In  June,  1822,  Lord  Cochrane  returned  to  Valparaiso, 
from  which  he  had  been  absent  twenty  months.  He  was 
received  with  a  popular  ovation  ;  but  his  enemies  were  still 
at  work,  and  struck  at  him  in  the  matter  upon  which  he  was 
most  sensitive,  by  refusing  any  payment  whatever  to  his  of- 
ficers and  men,  many  of  whom  almost  died  of  starvation. 

In  October  a  revolution  broke  out  in  Chili,  and  such  in- 
dignities were  heaped  upon  the  admiral  himself  that  upon  the 
1 2th  of  the  month  he  formally  resigned  his  commission,  and 
in  January,  1823,  quitted  Valparaiso  in  a  vessel  chartered  by 
himself,  taking  with  him  several  European  officers  and  gentle- 
men, who,  like  himself,  were  tired  of  Chilian  ingratitude,  and 
were  ready  to  follow  him  in  whatever  service  he  engaged. 

Stephen  had  taken  no  part  in  the  later  operations  of  the 
fleet.  After  the  capture  of  the  Esmeralda  he  had  been 
knocked  down  and  very  severely  injured  by  a  splinter,  caused 
by  a  shot  from  the  Spanish  batteries  passing  through  the  bul- 
wark close  to  where  he  was  standing.  Lord  Cochrane  had 
sent  him,  with  other  wounded,  in  one  of  the  small  war -ships 


262  WITH    COCHRANE    THE    DAUNTLESS 

down  to  Valparaiso,  and  there  he  was  tenderly  nursed  by 
Lady  Cochrane.  It  was  three  months  before  he  fairly  re- 
covered his  strength,  and  as  soon  as  he  was  convalescent  he 
took  a  berth  in  a  craft  that  was  sailing  with  stores  and  pro- 
visions for  the  fleet.  They  had  been  out  four  days  when  she 
was  caught  in  a  storm  on-shore.  In  vain  they  tried  to  beat 
out ;  the  vessel  was  a  poor  sailer,  and  drifted  to  leeward  faster 
than  she  could  work  to  windward. 

' '  What  sort  of  ground  tackle  have  you  ?  ' '  Stephen  asked 
the  captain. 

"  I  have  two  good  anchors,  senor  lieutenant,  but  the  cables 
are  rather  old." 

' '  I  should  advise  you  to  have  them  brought  up  on  deck  and 
overhauled,  and  if  you  find  any  specially  bad  places  we  can 
cut  them  out  and  splice  the  ends  again." 

The  cables  were  brought  up,  but  it  needed  a  very  short 
examination  only  to  show  Stephen  that  they  were  old  and 
worn  from  end  to  end.  "  It  will  go  hard  with  us  if  we  have 
to  rely  upon  these,"  he  said.  "  They  would  not  hold  a  bluff- 
bowed  craft  like  this  two  minutes ;  the  very  first  roller  that 
struck  her  would  snap  them  like  pack-threads.  The  worst  of 
it  is,  captain,  that  if  we  escape  being  drowned  we  have  but  the 
inside  of  a  prison  to  look  to,  for  we  are  off  the  Peruvian 
coast  now,  and  any  of  us  who  get  to  shore  will  be  seized  at 
once. ' ' 

"  With  such  a  sea  as  this,  senor,  there  is  little  chance  of 
any  of  us  being  saved  if  we  once  strike.  We  are  now  some- 
where off  the  mouth  of  the  San  Carlos  river.  In  calm  weather 
there  would  be  water  enough  on  the  bar  for  us  to  run  in,  but 
not  now ;  we  should  strike  and  go  to  pieces  to  a  certainty." 

"  Well,  that  would  depend  ;  we  might  bump  over  it.  But 
even  if  we  did  break  up  on  the  bar,  we  should  have  a  much 
better  chance  than  we  should  if  we  went  ashore  anywhere 


A   PRISONER  263 

else.  Instead  of  being  dashed  on  the  beach  by  the  waves, 
and  then  being  swept  out  again,  we  should  be  likely  to  be 
carried  on  into  the  still  water  behind  the  bar,  and  so  of  making 
our  way  to  shore.  There  are  eight  of  the  crew  and  ourselves. 
You  had  better  get  up  ten  small  casks  —  those  wine  barrels 
would  do  very  well — let  the  liquor  run  off,  then  bung  them 
up  again,  and  fasten  life-lines  round  them  ;  with  their  help  we 
should  have  a  fair  chance. ' ' 

"It  is  worth  trying  at  any  rate,"  the  captain  agreed. 
"The  surf  on  the  bar  will  be  tremendous,  but  if  we  could 
stick  to  the  casks  we  might  get  through  it." 

"  Do  you  think  that  you  are  north  or  south  of  it  now, 
captain  ? ' ' 

"  North,  perhaps  two  or  three  miles." 

"  Well,  we  will  go  on  fighting  as  long  as  we  can,  captain  ; 
it  is  of  no  use  throwing  away  a  chance,  and  the  wind  may 
possibly  drop  or  shift  so  as  to  enable  us  to  make  off  shore  ; 
but  if  we  do  not  see  the  land  before  three  o'clock  I  would 
turn  and  run  in  towards  it,  and  then  when  we  get  near  enough 
to  see  objects  plainer,  head  for  the  south  until  you  see  the 
entrance.  When  you  do  we  will  go  straight  for  it.  It  is 
better  at  any  rate  to  do  it  while  there  is  daylight  to  help  us." 

The  barrels  were  got  up  and  prepared  to  serve  as  life-buoys. 
They  had  just  finished  when  Stephen  made  his  way  a  short 
distance  up  the  rigging.  "  I  can  see  the  line  of  surf,  captain  ; 
it  is  not  more  than  three  miles  away.  You  had  better  take 
a  look  at  it — you  may  be  able  to  tell  where  we  are.  I  think 
I  can  make  out  a  place  of  some  size  a  short  distance  along." 

The  captain  joined  him.  "  Just  as  I  thought,"  he  said  ; 
"  that  is  San  Carlos,  and  the  mouth  of  the  river  is  about  a 
mile  beyond  it." 

"Then  you  may  as  well  bear  away  for  it  at  once  —  the 
sooner  we  get  it  over  the  better." 


264  WITH    COCHRANE    THE    DAUNTLESS 

"Make  your  casks  fast  to  something,  men,"  the  captain 
ordered,  as  he  stepped  on  deck.  "  The  surf  will  get  higher  as 
we  get  inshore,  and  will,  I  have  no  doubt,  sweep  our  decks. 
When  the  time  comes  let  each  man  go  to  his  barrel  with  his 
knife  in  his  hand  ready  to  cut  the  lashings  just  before  we 
strike." 

In  half  an  hour  the  captain  made  out  the  entrance  to  the 
river  and  headed  the  ship  for  it. 

"  There  is  a  heavy  sea  indeed  on  the  bar,"  Stephen  said  as 
they  neared  the  line  of  breakers.  "  You  see,  I  have  changed 
my  togs  since  the  gale  began,  for  I  saw  that  unless  the  wind 
changed  we  should  find  ourselves  in  difficulties.  We  have 
not  much  mercy  to  expect  as  Chilian  sailors.  I  should  have 
none  if  it  were  known  that  I  am  a  naval  officer.  Will  you 
tell  the  men  that  if  we  get  ashore  and  I  too  am  saved,  they 
had  best  hold  their  tongue  about  my  rank.  In  the  first  place 
it  would  do  me  harm,  and  in  the  next  it  would  damage  you 
all  were  it  known  you  had  one  of  Cochrane's  officers  on  board, 
for  it  would  show  at  once  that  you  were  on  your  way  to  our 
fleet ;  whereas  if  it  is  supposed  that  you  are  merely  an  ordi- 
nary coaster  you  may  be  let  off  unharmed." 

"  There  is  not  much  chance  for  us  either  way,"  the  captain 
said.  "If  we  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  Spaniards  they  will 
probably  hang  us  at  once,  while  the  country  people  may  cut 
our  throats  so  as  to  save  themselves  the  trouble  of  handing  us 
over  to  the  Spaniards.  We  are  no  more  than  a  hundred  miles 
from  the  frontier,  and  if  we  do  get  to  shore  our  best  chance 
will  be  to  try  and  make  our  way  down  the  coast,  travelling  at 
night  and  lying  up  in  the  daytime.  But  anyhow  I  will  tell 
the  men  what  you  say. ' ' 

"  Get  all  the  sail  upon  her  you  can,  captain — the  faster  she 
is  travelling  the  more  chance  she  has  of  getting  over  the  bar. ' ' 

"  I  will  shake  out  the  mainsail,"  the  captain  said.    "  Then 


A   PRISONER  265 

all  hands  had  better  gather  aft — the  masts  are  sure  to  fall  over 
her  bows  as  soon  as  she  strikes. ' ' 

In  a  few  minutes  the  ship  was  nearing  the  breakers  at  a 
high  rate  of  speed.  The  men  were  all  gathered  aft,  each  with 
his  barrel.  Stephen  held  his  breath  as  they  mounted  the  last 
great  wave  outside  the  surf.  Borne  along  by  the  great  wind 
and  the  impetus  of  the  waves,  the  vessel  plunged  head-fore- 
most into  the  surf,  which  poured  in  cataracts  on  to  her  deck. 
There  was  a  slight  shock,  which  caused  the  vessel  to  tremble, 
but  she  was  swept  along  by  the  fury  of  the  surf.  Another 
wave  lifted  her  high  into  the  air,  and  as  it  passed  from  under 
her  she  struck  again.  This  time  the  shock  was  tremendous. 
Every  man  was  thrown  off  his  feet,  the  masts  went  over  with 
a  crash,  and  most  of  the  hands  were  swept  overboard  by  the 
torrent  that  poured  in  over  the  stern.  Stephen  had  grasped 
one  of  the  back-stays,  and  though  it  seemed  to  him  for  a  mo- 
ment that  his  arms  were  being  pulled  from  their  sockets,  he 
still  maintained  his  grasp.  Another  and  even  greater  sea  than 
those  that  had  preceded  it  thundered  down  upon  them.  There 
was  a  forward  move  and  then  another  crash,  and  Stephen  felt 
himself  floating  in  the  water,  holding  on  to  the  keg.  Glanc- 
ing round  he  saw  that  the  ship  had  gone  altogether.  She  had 
broken  up  completely,  and  the  sea  was  covered  with  floating 
timbers. 

The  danger  from  this  was  greater  than  from  the  waves,  and 
he  let  go  his  hold  of  the  barrel  and  dived,  swimming  under 
water  at  right  angles  to  the  run  of  the  waves  as  long  as  he 
could  hold  his  breath.  When  he  came  up  he  looked  round. 
He  was  beyond  the  wreckage,  and  was  also  inside  the  line  of 
surf.  Had  the  wave  carried  the  ship  her  own  length  farther 
she  would  have  been  out  of  danger.  The  river  bank  was  but 
a  couple  of  hundreds  yards  away.  The  water  was  still  rough, 
but  it  was  a  long  heavy  swell  rather  than  a  stormy  sea,  and 


266  WITH    COCHRANE    THE    DAUNTLESS 

Stephen,  who  had  kicked  off  his  shoes  before  the  ship  struck, 
at  once  swam  for  the  shore,  and  was  not  long  in  reaching 
it.  After  resting  for  a  minute  or  two  he  walked  along  the 
bank,  and  soon  made  out  four  barrels  that  had  men  still  cling- 
ing to  them.  Gradually,  too,  these  made  their  way  ashore  ; 
the  swimmers  were  all  men  who  had  been  carried  away  by 
the  first  wave  that  had  swept  over  the  boat.  Of  the  others 
he  could  see  no  signs.  He  thought  he  could  make  out  two 
or  three  barrels  in  the  middle  of  the  wreckage,  but  of  this  he 
was  not  sure,  and  had  little  doubt  that  those  who  were  with 
him  at  the  time  the  ship  went  to  pieces  had  all  been  killed  by 
the  floating  timber. 

"  Now,  men,"  he  said,  when  the  four  survivors  had  joined 
him,  ' '  shall  we  keep  together  or  try  to  make  our  way  sepa- 
rately?" 

The  men  consulted  together,  and  then  said  that  they  thought 
they  would  have  more  chance  of  making  their  way  south  were 
they  to  separate.  Stephen  was  glad  of  this  decision,  which 
he  had  no  doubt  was  arrived  at  from  the  fear  that  if  they  were 
taken,  and  he  was  recognized  to  be  an  Englishman,  it  would 
make  their  treatment  worse  than  it  would  otherwise  be.  He 
himself  much  preferred  to  go  alone  ;  he  had  no  authority  over 
these  men,  and  five  men  together  were  more  likely  to  attract 
attention  than  one  alone.  Looking  across  the  river  they  saw 
a  number  of  people  on  the  opposite  bank.  They  were  evi- 
dently inhabitants  of  the  town,  who,  having  seen  the  ship 
running  for  shore,  had  come  down  to  watch  her  fate,  and  to 
give  any  assistance  in  their  power.  Stephen  saw  that  they 
were  waving  their  hands  for  them  to  make  up  the  bank,  where 
there  might  be  a  ferry-boat  to  take  them  over.  He  pointed 
this  out  to  the  men,  and  said,  "  I  am  afraid  we  shall  be  pur- 
sued ere  long.  Of  course,  at  present  they  take  us  for  their 
own  people ;  but  when  they  see  that  we  do  not  cross,  they 


A   PRISONER  267 

will  suspect  the  truth,  and  will  send  over  to  see  whether 
we  have  taken  shelter  in  some  village  there  may  be  on  this 
side.  When  they  hear  that  we  have  not  done  so,  they 
will  guess  that  we  are  Chilians,  and  there  will  be  a  hot 
pursuit  for  us.  We  will  walk  together  for  a  little  way  along 
the  bank  as  if  going  in  the  direction  that  they  point  to. 
They  are  not  likely  to  stay  long  where  they  are ;  some  will 
go  back  to  the  town  now  that  there  is  nothing  to  see, 
others  will  no  doubt  remain  on  the  bank  to  collect  wreck- 
age that  may  he  washed  ashore,  a  few  may  go  on  to  the 
ferry  and  wait  there  for  us.  If  there  are  any  boats  in  the 
river  you  may  be  sure  they  will  soon  put  out  to  collect  float- 
ing casks  and  bales." 

The  little  crowd  was  indeed  just  beginning  to  break  up, 
and  after  going  a  short  distance  Stephen  and  his  companions 
left  the  river  and  started  south.  After  going  two  or  three 
hundred  yards  they  shook  hands  and  separated,  the  sailors 
striking  more  inland,  while  Stephen  took  for  the  present  a 
course  that  ran  parallel  with  the  sea  -  coast.  It  was  already 
growing  dark,  and  Stephen  was  worn  out  with  the  excite- 
ment of  the  day,  so  that  after  going  on  for  an  hour,  he  lay 
down  in  a  clump  of  trees  and  went  to  sleep.  It  was  broad 
daylight  when  he  awoke,  and  on  walking  to  the  edge  of  the 
trees  he  saw  a  village  a  few  hundred  yards  in  front  of  him. 
He  made  a  long  detour  to  pass  it,  and  was  proceeding  along 
a  well-beaten  path  when  he  heard  the  sound  of  horses'  hoofs 
behind,  and  looking  round  saw  four  Spanish  troopers  riding 
towards  him.  Escape  was  out  of  the  question,  and  he  walked 
quietly  on  in  the  faint  hope  that  they  might  pass  without 
stopping  him.  This,  however,  was  improbable ;  his  hair  was 
matted  with  sea  water,  his  clothes  still  wet — his  whole  appear- 
ance too  evidently  that  of  a  shipwrecked  man.  They  stopped 
when  they  reached  him. 


268  WITH    COCHRANE    THE    DAUNTLESS 

"  You  are  one  of  the  men  who  were  cast  ashore  last 
night  ?  "  a  sergeant  said. 

"  I  am,"  Stephen  replied  frankly. 

"  My  orders  are  to  take  you  back  to  San  Carlos.  Where 
are  your  companions  ?  " 

"  I  do  not  know,"  Stephen  replied.  "We  separated  at 
once;  I  went  my  way  and  they  went  theirs." 

"  You  are  a  Chilian,"  the  man  said;  "  anyone  can  tell  it 
by  your  speech." 

Stephen  by  this  time  spoke  the  language  so  fluently  indeed 
that  he  could  have  passed  as  a  native.  There  was,  however, 
sufficient  difference  between  the  dialects  of  Peru  and  Chili 
for  it  to  be  seen  at  once  that  he  was  not  a  Peruvian.  He 
did  not  reply  directly  to  the  question. 

"  We  were  on  a  trader,"  he  said.  "  The  captain  and  four 
of  the  men  were  lost ;  five  of  us  gained  the  shore.  We  were 
not  on  an  armed  ship,  and  cannot  be  considered  enemies." 

"  The  whole  race  of  you  are  enemies,"  the  sergeant  said. 
"  You  are  rebels  and  traitors  every  one  of  you.  Gomez,  do 
you  and  Martinez  take  this  man  back  to  San  Carlos,  and 
hand  him  over  to  the  governor.  I  will  ride  on  with  Sancho 
and  see  if  we  can  come  up  with  the  other  fellows  ;  as  there 
are  half  a  dozen  parties  out  in  search  we  are  pretty  sure  to  lay 
hands  on  them  before  nightfall. ' ' 

On  the  way  back  Stephen,  as  he  walked  between  the  two 
horsemen,  debated  whether  it  would  be  better  to  allow  them 
to  remain  under  the  impression  that  he  was  a  Chilian,  or  de- 
clare himself  an  English  officer.  In  the  former  case  he  would 
most  likely  be  shot  without  ceremony,  in  the  latter  he  might 
probably  be  sent  up  to  Callao  or  Lima.  It  might  make  no 
difference  in  his  fate,  but  at  least  might  delay  it ;  and  if  he 
could  but  manage  to  communicate  his  position  to  Lord  Coch- 
rane,  the  latter  would  certainly  take  instant  steps  to  offer  one 


STEPHEN   IS   BOUND  AND  BROUGHT  BEFORE    THE  GOVERNOR  OF 
SAN   CARLOS. 


A    PRISONER  269 

or  more  of  the  many  Spanish  officers  who  were  prisoners  in 
his  hands  in  exchange  for  him,  or  would  threaten  that  if  any 
harm  came  to  him  he  would  give  no  quarter  to  Spanish 
officers  in  future.  At  any  rate  the  latter  seemed  to  promise 
him  the  better  chance,  and  accordingly  when  on  his  arrival 
at  San  Carlos  he  was  taken  before  the  governor,  he  replied 
boldly  to  the  question,  "  Who  are  you?" 

"  I  am  Lieutenant  Stephen  Embleton,  flag  officer  to  Ad- 
miral Cochrane." 

The  words  created  a  sensation  among  the  officers  standing 
behind  the  governor. 

"  You  dare  to  say  this  !  "  the  governor  exclaimed  furiously. 

"I  am  giving  a  simple  answer  to  your  question,  senor," 
Stephen  said  quietly.  "  When  we  ask  the  Spanish  officers 
who  fall  into  our  hands  what  their  names  are,  they  reply  as  I 
have  done,  truthfully,  and  they  are  treated  as  I  expect  to  be 
treated,  honourably ;  especially  as  I  have  not  been  captured 
by  you  when  in  arms,  but  have  simply  had  the  misfortune  to 
be  shipwrecked  on  your  coast." 

The  quiet  tone  of  the  reply  had  its  effect.  The  officers 
spoke  a  few  words  together  in  a  low  tone,  and  the  governor 
said  more  calmly  than  he  had  before  spoken  : 

"  How  am  I  to  know  that  this  story  is  true  ?  " 

"  I  have  no  means  of  proving  it  now,"  Stephen  replied  ; 
"  but  if  I  am  taken  to  Callao,  a  message  sent  to  Lord  Coch- 
rane under  a  flag  of  truce  would  speedily  bring  back  a  letter 
verifying  my  story." 

"  But  how  did  you  come  to  be  on  board  that  craft  that  was 
wrecked  ? ' ' 

"  I  was  wounded,  senor,  at  the  action  in  the  port  of  Callao. 
A  splinter  caused  by  a  shot  from  one  of  your  batteries  struck 
me  when  on  the  deck  of  the  Esmeralda.  I  was  sent  down  to 
Valparaiso.  Your  surgeon  can  examine  me  and  will  find  that 


270  WITH    COCHRANE    THE    DAUNTLESS 

the  wound  has  but  lately  healed.  Being  anxious  to  rejoin  my 
ship  as  soon  as  possible,  I  did  not  wait  for  a  ship  of  war  going 
up,  but  took  passage  in  a  Chilian  trader." 

"  Doubtless  conveying  stores  to  the  Chilian  fleet,"  the  gov- 
ernor remarked. 

"  She  may  have  had  stores  of  that  kind  on  board,"  Stephen 
said,  "  but  that  was  no  affair  of  mine.  I  simply  took  a  pas- 
sage in  her,  and  paid  for  it.  The  admiral  is  expecting  me, 
and  will,  I  am  sure,  be  ready  to  exchange  an  officer  of  su- 
perior rank  for  me." 

By  the  governor's  orders  Stephen  was  now  taken  into 
another  room.  In  a  quarter  of  an  hour  he  was  brought  back 
again.  The  governor  had  left  the  room,  but  a  Spanish  col- 
onel said  to  him  : 

"  It  has  been  decided  to  send  you  to  Callao,  where,  no 
doubt,  inquiries  will  be  made  into  the  truth  of  your  story, 
and  his  excellency  the  Viceroy  will  himself  decide  upon  your 
fate." 

Stephen  bowed. 

"  I  can  have  no  doubt,  sefior,  that  his  excellency  will  treat 
me  with  the  same  courtesy  with  which  some  score  of  Spanish 
officers  are  at  present  treated  by  Lord  Cochrane ;  especially 
as  he  will  know  that  were  I — which  I  cannot  for  a  moment 
believe — badly  treated,  it  is  in  the  power  of  our  admiral  to 
carry  out  wholesale  reprisals. ' ' 

The  colonel  made  no  reply,  but  ordered  the  guards  to  re- 
move the  prisoner.  An  hour  later  a  young  Spanish  officer 
entered. 

"I  have  been  ordered  to  accompany  you  to  Callao,"  he 
said  courteously.  "  I  take  four  men  with  me,  and  I  am  told 
that  I  am  to  be  responsible  for  your  safety.  It  would  be 
painful  indeed  for  me  to  have  to  take  any  stringent  measures 
to  prevent  you  from  escaping  on  the  road,  and  if  you  will 


A    PRISONER  271 

give  me  your  parole  not  to  attempt  evasion  it  will  be  far  more 
pleasant  for  us  both." 

"  If  you  will  give  me  a  little  time  to  think  it  over," 
Stephen  replied,  "  I  will  give  you  an  answer.  It  is  too  serious 
a  matter  for  me  to  decide  at  once.  However,  whether  I  ac- 
cept or  refuse  I  thank  you  greatly  for  your  courtesy  in  making 
me  the  offer." 

"We  shall  start  in  an  hour's  time,"  the  Spaniard  said. 
"A  meal,  of  which  you  are  doubtless  much  in  need,  will  be 
brought  to  you  at  once,  and  when 'you  have  concluded  it  I 
will  return  for  your  reply." 

He  then  left  the  room,  and  in  two  or  three  minutes  a  sol- 
dier entered  with  a  substantial  meal.  As  he  ate  it  Stephen 
thought  the  matter  over.  It  did  not  seem  to  him  that  with 
four  soldiers  and  an  officer  watching  him  he  could  have  much 
chance  of  making  his  escape,  and,  even  did  he  succeed  in 
doing  so,  he  would  almost  certainly  be  retaken,  as  he  could 
have  but  a  short  start,  and  his  dress  and  Chilian  speech  would 
attract  instant  attention.  If  overtaken  he  might  be  shot  at 
once,  and  he  therefore  decided  that  his  chances  would  be 
better  as  a  prisoner  at  Callao  than  as  a  fugitive  in  a  hostile 
country.  Accordingly  when  the  officer  returned  he  at  once 
gave  him  his  parole  not  to  attempt  to  escape  upon  the  journey. 

"  I  am  very  glad  that  you  have  so  decided,"  the  Spaniard 
said.  "  I  will  send  you  at  once  a  suit  of  clothes  to  ride  in. 
Your  attire  would  at  once  attract  attention  and  might  lead  to 
unpleasantness.  We  have  a  long  journey  before  us,  and  may 
as  well  make  it  as  agreeable  as  we  can  under  the  circum- 
stances. ' ' 

Stephen  thanked  him  heartily  for  the  offer,  which  he  gladly 
accepted,  for  he  felt  ashamed  of  his  appearance  in  his  rough 
clothes,  now  shrunk  and  water-stained.  The  servant  who 
brought  the  suit  of  clothes  brought  also  a  large  basin  of  water, 


272  WITH    COCHRANE    THE    DAUNTLESS 

soap,  and  a  towel,  and  Stephen  was  therefore  able  to  make  his 
toilet  in  comfort.  The  suit  was  an  undress  uniform — white 
breeches,  jacket  of  the  same  material,  with  white  braid,  a  pair 
of  high  riding-boots,  and  a  broad-brimmed  hat.  As  soon  as 
he  dressed  himself,  his  guard  conducted  him  downstairs.  The 
officer  and  the  four  troopers  were  already  mounted,  and  a 
horse  stood  ready  for  Stephen.  Without  a  word  he  mounted, 
the  officer  took  his  place  beside  him,  and  the  troopers  falling 
in  behind,  he  rode  out  through  the  gate. 

"  I  thank  you  heartily  for  your  thoughtfulness  in  providing 
me  with  the  means  of  making  myself  respectable." 

"  You  certainly  look  better,"  the  young  officer  said.  "  Now 
permit  me  to  introduce  myself.  My  name  is  Filippo  Con- 
chas ;  my  uncle  is  the  governor  here,  and  it  is  to  that  I  owe 
the  pleasure  of  this  excursion  with  you." 

"  I  should  not  have  thought  that  a  ride  of  five  or  six  hun- 
dred miles  was  a  pleasure,  Don  Filippo. ' ' 

"Oh,  yes,  it  is,  when  one  can  go  one's  own  pace,  and 
travel  only  in  the  morning  and  evening.  Moreover,  one  gets 
terribly  tired  of  a  small  provincial  town,  especially  in  times 
like  these,  when  things  are  not  going  quite  so  pleasantly  as 
one  might  wish,  and  one  knows  that  half  the  inhabitants  are 
bitterly  hostile  to  one.  Besides,  sefior,  I  have  an  attraction 
at  Callao,  and  in  fact  am  betrothed  to  a  fair  cousin,  the 
daughter  of  another  uncle  who  is  the  chief  naval  authority  at 
the  port.  My  uncle,  that  is  the  one  here,  is  a  strict  disciplin- 
arian, and  as  all  leave  is  stopped  owing  to  the  doings  of  your 
admiral's  ships,  I  am  kept  here ;  so,  of  course,  directly  I 
heard  that  you  were  to  be  sent  to  Callao  I  applied  to  him  to 
appoint  me  to  command  the  escort,  and  as  I  was  the  first 
applicant  he  had  no  excuse  for  refusing,  although  he  was  not 
in  the  most  pleasant  of  humours.  However,  that  I  did  not 
care  about  as  long  as  I  got  my  leave.  He  has  gone  down  to 


FRIENDS    IN    NEED  273 

the  river  with  several  of  his  officers  to  inspect  the  goods,  of 
which  a  large  quantity  has  been  cast  ashore.  If  he  had  been 
here  I  should  not  have  ventured  to  effect  this  transformation 
in  your  appearance  until  to-morrow.  Are  you  a  good  rider, 
senor  ?  ' ' 

"No,  indeed,"  Stephen  replied,  "I  have  had  no  oppor- 
tunities for  practice." 

"It  does  not  matter  much,"  Don  Filippo  said;  "I  dare- 
say you  will  be  a  good  rider  at  the  end  of  our  journey,  and 
your  not  being  so  at  present  will  afford  me  an  excuse  for  not 
making  fatiguing  journeys;  so  all  is  for  the  best,  you  see." 


CHAPTER   XV 

FRIENDS    IN    NEED 

DON  FILIPPO  did  all  in  his  power  to  make  the  journey  a 
pleasant  one  for  Stephen.  They  travelled  on  an  average 
about  twenty-four  miles  a  day,  twelve  in  the  morning  soon 
after  sunrise,  and  as  much  in  the  cool  of  the  evening.  During 
the  heat  of  the  day  they  halted,  sometimes  in  the  shade  of  a 
grove,  sometimes  at  the  hacienda  where  they  breakfasted. 
The  young  officer  chatted  freely  to  Stephen  about  himself  and 
his  life,  and  as  they  lay  in  the  shade  during  the  long  hours  of 
the  heat,  Stephen  related  his  own  adventures  on  his  first 
cruise,  and  in  reply  to  questions  of  the  Spaniard,  repeated  to 
him  what  he  had  heard  from  his  father  of  Cochrane's  exploits. 
Don  Filippo  treated  him  in  every  way  as  a  friend  and  an 
equal,  and  no  one  who  saw  them  together  would  have  dreamt 
that  he  was  a  prisoner.  Even  at  night  no  guard  was  placed 
at  the  door  of  his  chamber,  the  Spaniard  having  absolute  faith 


274  WITH    COCHRANE    THE    DAUNTLESS 

in  the  honour  of  an  English  officer.  The  journey  occupied 
nearly  three  weeks,  by  the  end  of  which  time  Stephen  was 
perfectly  at  home  on  horseback.  As  they  approached  Callao 
Don  Filippo's  gaiety  deserted  him. 

"I  do  not  conceal  from  you,  Don  Estevan,  that  I  am 
anxious  about  you,  very  anxious.  You  can  hardly  under- 
stand the  deep  and  bitter  hostility  that  has  been  excited  in 
the  minds  of  my  countrymen  by  the  doings  of  your  admiral. 
Our  hold  on  Peru  when  you  arrived  here  was  absolute,  and  it 
was  morally  certain  that,  with  the  aid  of  the  ships  and 
men  on  their  way  out,  we  should  have  very  soon  recaptured 
Chili  again.  All  that  has  changed.  Our  armies  have  been 
defeated,  our  ships  captured  by  inferior  forces,  our  prestige 
destroyed ;  we  find  ourselves  insulted  in  our  ports,  our  ships 
cut  out  from  under  our  guns,  the  Peruvians  ready  at  any 
moment  to  revolt,  our  flag  almost  swept  from  the  Pacific,  and 
with  every  prospect  that  the  broad  dominions  won  for  Spain 
by  Pizarro  and  Cortez  will  be  wrested  from  us.  You  can 
hardly  imagine  the  wrath  and  humiliation  of  every  Spaniard 
at  the  misfortunes  that  have  fallen  upon  us,  the  more  so  that 
these  misfortunes  have  been  inflicted  by  a  naval  force  that  we 
deemed  absolutely  contemptible. 

"  All  this  is  due  to  Admiral  Cochrane  and  his  English  offi- 
cers. In  the  next  place,  in  addition  to  the  political  hate 
there  is  the  religious  one.  It  is  by  heretics  that  we  have  been 
defeated,  as  we  were  defeated  centuries  ago  by  your  people 
and  the  Dutch.  You  know  how  great  is  the  power  that  the 
priests  wield.  We  have  still  the  Inquisition  among  us,  and 
though  its  power  in  Spain  is  comparatively  slight,  the  institu- 
tion still  flourishes  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic.  All  this 
makes  me  anxious  for  you.  No  doubt  your  admiral  would 
exchange  some  of  his  prisoners  for  you,  or  might,  did  he  learn 
it,  retaliate  upon  them  for  any  ill-treatment  dealt  to  you,  but 


FRIENDS    IN    NEED  275 

you  see  he  may  never  get  to  know  in  time.  He  may  hear 
that  the  ship  in  which  you  sailed  was  lost,  but  he  may  sup- 
pose that  all  hands  were  lost  with  it,  for  the  four  Chilian  sail- 
ors were  captured  an  hour  or  two  after  you  were,  and  were  at 
once  shot.  I  am  sorry  now  that  I  undertook  this  journey. 
We  have  been  friends  and  comrades  since  we  started,  and  I 
cannot  bear  the  thought  that  any  evil  should  befall  you.  You 
have  an  absolute  right  to  good  treatment,  for  your  admiral 
has  always  treated  his  prisoners  with  the  greatest  kindness  and 
consideration,  but  I  regret  to  say  that  in  the  present  state  of 
the  feelings  of  the  Spaniards  I  am  not  certain  that  such  treat- 
ment will  be  meted  out  to  you." 

"  We  must  hope  for  the  best,  Don  Filippo,"  Stephen  re- 
plied. "  I  do  not  blind  myself  to  the  fact  that  my  position 
is  not  free  from  danger,  but  I  confide  in  the  honour  of  your 
countrymen." 

"  Unhappily,"  the  young  officer  said  gloomily,  "  the  ideas 
of  honour  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic  differ  materially  from 
those  in  the  old  country.  It  has  been  so  ever  since  we  set 
foot  in  this  country.  Acts  of  treachery  have  been  performed 
by  men  who  at  home  would  shrink  from  any  deed  that  savoured 
of  dishonour ;  and  although  even  here  one  Spaniard  would  not 
transgress  the  code  towards  another,  there  are  too  many  who 
feel  no  scruples  whatever  as  to  any  course  that  they  may  pur- 
sue towards  one  of  another  race  and  another  religion." 

Stephen  nodded. 

"  I  understand  that,  Don  Filippo,  and  I  own  that,  while  I 
have  no  great  fear  of  ill-treatment  on  the  part  of  the  military 
and  civil  authorities,  I  feel  that  should  I  fall  into  the  hands  of 
the  Inquisition  my  chance  would  be  a  slight  one.  From  what 
I  have  heard  I  know  that  its  power  is  so  great  that  even  the 
most  powerful  of  the  civil  authorities  have  to  give  way  to  it. 
Of  course,  being  a  British  subject,  they  have  no  shadow  of 


276  WITH    COCHRANE    THE    DAUNTLESS 

right  to  meddle  with  me,  and  if  they  do  so  and  it  becomes 
known  in  England,  it  will  be  a  very  serious  matter  ;  but  my 
fate  might  never  be  known,  and  even  did  it  come  to  the 
admiral's  ears  that  I  had  been  brought  a  prisoner  here,  any 
application  on  his  part  might  be  met  by  a  statement  that  I  had 
been  shot  while  attempting  to  escape,  or  that  I  died  of  fever 
in  prison,  and  he  would  never  be  able  to  obtain  any  proof  to 
the  contrary." 

"  I  am  but  too  well  aware  of  it,"  the  young  Spaniard  re- 
plied. "  Men  are  constantly  missing — not  military  men,  but 
merchants,  land-owners,  and  others  who  have  been  known  to 
entertain  liberal  opinions.  No  one  knows  what  has  become  of 
them.  No  one  dares  to  make  inquiry.  I  tell  you,  senor,  that 
I,  a  Spaniard,  acknowledge  that  the  state  of  affairs  here  is 
detestable,  and  I  am  not  surprised  at  the  efforts  of  the  colonies 
to  break  away  from  us.  Even  in  the  middle  ages  in  Spain 
priestly  tyranny  was  never  carried  to  a  greater  point  than  still 
prevails  here.  We  have  been  here  for  centuries,  and  what  have 
we  done  for  the  countries  under  our  sway?  So  far  from  en- 
riching, we  have  impoverished  them.  The  great  proportion 
of  the  population  are  little  more  than  slaves,  and  we  are  hated 
as  bitterly  as  Cortez  was  hated  by  the  Mexicans  when  he  over- 
threw the  empire  of  Montezuma.  It  is  three  years  since  I 
came  out  here  full  of  enthusiasm,  and  eager  to  bear  a  part  in 
putting  down  the  rebellion  of  Chili.  Now  I  feel  that  Chili 
was  more  than  justified,  and  that  ere  long  we  shall  lose  all  the 
possessions  that  the  swords  of  our  ancestors  won  for  us,  and 
which  were  regarded  with  so  much  natural  pride  by  Spaniards  ; 
and  the  worst  of  it  is,  that  it  is  the  outcome  of  our  own  work, 
our  own  oppression  and  misgovernment.  Were  I  to  speak 
like  this  in  public,  not  even  the  influence  of  my  two  uncles  could 
save  me.  I  too  should  disappear  and  be  heard  of  no  more. 
I  have  been  thinking, ' '  he  went  on  after  a  few  minutes'  silence, 


FRIENDS    IN    NEED  277 

"  for  the  last  two  or  three  days  whether  it  would  not  be  better 
for  me  to  give  you  back  your  parole  and  to  suffer  you  to  es- 
cape. Of  course  I  should  be  blamed,  but  the  offence  would 
not  be  a  tithe  of  the  gravity  of  that  of  speaking  as  I  have  just 
spoken  to  you. ' ' 

"  I  would  not  think  of  such  a  thing,  Don  Filippo,"  Stephen 
replied  warmly.  "  I  would  not  take  my  freedom  at  the  cost 
of  involving  in  my  trouble  one  who  has  behaved  so  kindly  to 
me.  I  have  still  a  great  hope  that  everything  will  turn  out 
well,  and  that  I  shall  be  exchanged  for  some  officer  in  the 
admiral's  hands.  He  is  sure  to  hear  of  my  being  at  Callao,  for 
his  last  letter  said  that  many  deserters  were  coming  in,  and 
from  some  of  these  he  is  likely  to  learn  that  I  am  a  prisoner  ; 
and  in  that  case  he  would  not,  I  am  sure,  lose  a  day  in  send- 
ing in  a  flag  of  truce  with  a  request  for  my  exchange,  and 
a  notice  that  if  this  was  refused  he  would  quickly  follow  it  by 
retributive  measures  if  any  harm  befell  me. ' ' 

The  Spaniard  did  not  reply.  He  felt  sure  that  every  pains 
would  be  taken  by  the  authorities  to  prevent  the  news  of  his 
companion's  capture  becoming  public  ;  and  his  uncle,  on  ap- 
pointing him  Stephen's  escort,  had  laid  strict  injunctions  on 
him  to  say  nothing  of  the  matter  on  his  arrival  at  Callao  until 
he  had  delivered  his  prisoner  over  to  the  authorities,  and  had 
received  permission  from  them  to  speak  of  it.  On  the  follow- 
ing day  they  entered  the  town.  As  they  rode  to  the  house  of 
the  military  governor  no  one  paid  any  heed  to  their  passage ; 
it  was  but  two  young  officers  returning  perhaps  from  Lima  or 
from  some  other  station.  On  reaching  the  governor  Filippo 
went  up  alone  to  make  his  report,  leaving  Stephen  in  charge  of 
the  soldiers.  He  was  absent  half  an  hour. 

"  I  have  said  all  I  could  for  you,"  he  said  gloomily  on  his 
return.  "The  governor  is  one  of  the  old  type,  obstinate, 
bigoted,  and  arrogant.  I  have  not  been  all  this  time  with 


278  WITH    COCHRANE   THE    DAUNTLESS 

him ;  in  fact  only  a  few  minutes.  He  dismissed  all  I  had  to 
say  with  a  wave  of  the  hand  : 

"  '  You  will  take  the  prisoner,  Lieutenant  Conchas,  to  the 
military  prison,  and  hand  him  over  to  the  governor  there. 
Until  you  hear  further  you  will  maintain  an  absolute  silence  as 
to  his  arrival  here,  and  will  simply  state  that  you  are  here  on 
a  short  leave. ' 

"  I  had  nothing  to  do  but  to  bow  and  retire,  but  if  possible 
I  will  send  a  message  to  your  admiral  that  you  are  here.  At 
present,  however,  that  is  out  of  the  question  ;  for  while  I  was 
waiting  in  the  anteroom  I  learned  that  the  blockading  fleet 
has  sailed  away,  and  that  there  is  no  news  whatever  as  to  the 
direction  which  it  has  taken.  It  is  very  unfortunate,  but  you 
may  be  assured  that,  as  soon  as  it  returns,  I  will  somehow  or 
other  communicate  with  the  admiral." 

Remounting  they  rode  to  the  prison.  They  said  good-bye  to 
each  other  before  they  reached  its  door,  for,  as  Filippo  said, 
it  would  be  better  that  he  should  part  ceremoniously. 

"  We  must  not  show  any  affection  for  each  other,"  he  said, 
"  or,  should  the  English  admiral  learn  that  you  are  here,  or 
should  you  manage  to  make  your  escape,  suspicion  would  at 
once  light  upon  me.  Believe  me,  Don  Estevan,  I  shall  do  all 
in  my  power  to  aid  you." 

The  parting  inside  was  therefore  brief.  Don  Filippo  handed 
Stephen  over  to  the  chief  official  of  the  prison,  saying  that 
the  orders  of  the  governor  were,  that  he  was  to  be  kept  apart 
from  all  other  prisoners  and  allowed  no  communication  with 
anyone. 

"  Adieu,  senor.  I  trust  that  you  have  had  no  cause  to 
complain  of  your  treatment  during  your  journey  hither." 

"  None  whatever,"  Stephen  said  gravely.  "  You  have 
treated  me  with  the  courtesy  that  an  officer  has  a  right  to 
expect  at  the  hands  of  his  captors." 


FRIENDS    IN    NEED  279 

The  young  Spaniard  bowed,  saluted  the  prison  officer,  and 
left  without  another  word.  The  governor  struck  a  bell,  and 
on  an  assistant  entering  he  gave  Stephen  into  his  charge. 
"  Place  him  in  the  end  cell  of  the  long  corridor,"  he  said. 
"  If  it  is  occupied  at  present,  remove  whoever  is  there  to 
another  cell.  This  prisoner  is  to  hold  no  communication  with 
others,  and  an  extra  strict  watch  must  be  kept  on  him.  He  is 
one  of  the  heretic  officers  of  the  Chilian  fleet,  and  will  want 
looking  after  closely. ' ' 

The  cell  happened  to  be  untenanted,  and  Stephen  was  at 
once  conducted  there.  It  was  apparently  intended  as  a  place 
of  confinement  for  officers  who  had  fallen  into  disgrace.  It 
was  some  twelve  feet  square,  and  contained  a  table  and  a 
chair.  From  the  window,  which  was  very  closely  barred, 
a  view  of  the  bay  could  be  obtained,  and  Stephen  felt  that  his 
quarters  were  better  than  he  had  expected.  As  soon  as  he  was 
alone  he  examined  the  apartment  more  closely.  Looking 
down  as  well  as  he  could  between  the  bars  he  could  see  the  top 
of  a  wall  some  twenty  yards  away,  and  decided  that  a  court- 
yard surrounded  the  building,  so  that  even  could  he  find  any 
means  of  descending  from  his  window  it  would  be  necessary 
afterwards  for  him  to  climb  this  wall.  At  present,  however, 
he  had  no  idea  of  trying  to  escape.  To  do  so  would,  were  he 
caught,  greatly  prejudice  his  case,  and  might  be  used  as  an  ex- 
cuse for  his  instant  execution.  However,  he  concluded  that 
if  he  could  loosen  the  bars  it  would  be  as  well  to  do  so  with- 
out loss  of  time,  as  it  might  be  necessary  to  make  the  attempt 
at  very  short  notice. 

Upon  examining  the  bars  he  found  that  they  were  so 
strongly  built  into  the  wall  that  it  would  be  a  task  demanding 
a  very  long  time  to  execute.  Turning  from  this  he  examined 
the  door.  The  framework  was  massive,  and  he  had  noticed  as 
he  had  entered  that  it  was  fastened  outside  by  two  heavy  iron 


280  WITH    COCHRANE   THE   DAUNTLESS 

bolts.  "There  is  not  much  to  be  done  that  way,"  he  said. 
"  Now  I  must  wait  to  see  how  my  meals  are  brought  in.  The 
only  possible  way  that  I  can  think  of  is  that  of  overpowering 
the  warder  and  getting  out  in  his  clothes.  I  don't  suppose 
that  there  is  much  order  or  discipline  in  a  Spanish  prison,  and 
if  I  could  once  get  down  into  the  yard  after  dark,  I  might  walk 
quietly  out  if  there  is  a  gate  open,  or  climb  that  wall  if  there 
isn't." 

That  evening  his  supper  was  brought  in  by  the  warder  into 
whose  charge  he  had  been  given.  He  was  accompanied  by 
another  armed  with  sword  and  musket. 

"  Two  of  them,"  Stephen  said  to  himself,  as,  after  retiring 
without  having  spoken  a  word,  his  guards  closed  and  bolted 
the  door  behind  them.  "I  think  I  could  manage  them  at 
a  pinch.  It  seems  to  me  that  an  escape  is  possible,  but  the 
question  is  what  should  I  do  with  myself  when  I  got  out. 
If  the  fleet  had  been  still  off  the  town  I  might  have  made 
along  the  shore,  stolen  a  boat,  and  rowed  out ;  but  as  it 
has  gone  there  is  nothing  to  be  done  that  way.  A  journey  on 
foot  from  here  to  the  frontier  and  down  through  Chili  would 
be  a  tremendous  affair.  I  should  be  pursued,  and  as  it  would 
be  guessed  that  I  had  gone  that  way,  orders  would  be  sent  to 
every  town  and  village  to  look  after  me,  and  a  man  in  the 
dress  of  a  Spanish  officer  on  foot  would  be  remarked  by  every 
soul  I  met." 

Three  days  passed  without  incident,  but  at  dinner-time 
on  the  fourth  he  thought  that  the  warder,  as  he  placed  the 
hunch  of  bread  on  the  table,  gave  him  a  significant  glance. 
As  soon  as  the  door  was  closed  he  seized  the  bread  and  pulled 
it  to  pieces.  Inside  was  a  tiny  pellet  of  paper.  He  opened 
and  smoothed  it  out.  In  a  female  hand  was  written  in  tiny 
characters  :  "  The  Inquisition  has  demanded  you.  You  will  be 
handed  over  to  -  morrow.  If  it  be  possible,  make  an  escape 


FRIENDS    IN    NEED  281 

to-night.  If  you  can  do  so,  turn  to  your  right  from  the  front  of 
the  prison,  take  the  second  street  on  the  left,  and  knock  three 
times  on  the  fifth  door  on  the  right-hand  side.  A  friend  will  be 
awaiting  you.  If  you  cannot  escape,  hope  still.  We  will  try 
other  means.  Destroy  this  when  read. ' ' 

Stephen  read  it  through  three  or  four  times  to  be  sure  that 
he  had  his  instructions  by  heart,  then  he  put  the  paper 
into  his  mouth,  chewed  it  up  and  swallowed  it. 

"  It  must  be  done  when  they  bring  in  my  supper,"  he  said 
to  himself.  "I  know  that  I  am  the  last  to  be  served  in 
this  corridor,  for  I  can  hear  them  stop  at  the  door  next  to  me 
before  they  come  here.  That  is  an  advantage,  as  they  would 
go  straight  down  the  corridor  on  leaving  me.  The  first  thing 
is  to  tear  up  these  two  rugs  into  strips,  and  make  ropes  for 
binding  them.  Of  course  I  shall  have  to  tackle  the  soldier 
first.  The  warder  has  evidently  been  bribed  and  he  will 
make  no  resistance.  When  I  have  once  overpowered  the  sol- 
dier, I  may  get  some  hints  from  the  other  as  to  which  is  my 
best  way  of  getting  put  of  this.  Of  course  this  is  Filippo's 
doing.  What  a  good  fellow  he  is  to  run  such  a  risk !  There 
is  one  thing,  if  I  once  get  fairly  out  of  the  cell  I  will  be  killed 
rather  than  be  taken  and  handed  over  to  the  Inquisition." 

Although  he  had  not  once  been  visited  between  meals, 
he  thought  it  prudent  not  to  begin  the  work  of  making  his 
rope  until  the  sun  was  getting  low.  When  it  did  so  he 
tore  up  the  blankets,  twisted  and  knotted  together  the 
strips,  and  then  sat  down  to  await  the  coming  of  the 
jailers.  He  had  already  tried  to  wrench  off  one  of  the 
legs  of  the  table,  but  it  was  too  heavy  and  strongly  made 
for  him  to  succeed.  He  then  thought  of  using  the  chair, 
but  he  could  not  feel  certain  of  stunning  the  soldier  with 
the  first  blow,  and  the  latter  might  fire  off  his  musket,  or 
shout  so  loudly  as  to  give  the  alarm  ;  he  therefore  determined 


282  WITH    COCHRANE    THE    DAUNTLESS 

to  trust  to  his  hands  alone.  He  knew  that  he  was  greatly 
superior  in  strength  to  any  of  the  little  Spanish  soldiers, 
and  that  with  the  advantage  of  surprise  he  ought  to  be  able  to 
succeed  without  noise. 

About  an  hour  after  it  became  dark  he  heard  the  footsteps 
come  to  the  next  cell,  then  he  took  his  place  close  against  the 
wall  by  the  side  of  his  door  and  waited. 

As  the  bolts  were  drawn  back  he  took  a  deep  breath.  The 
warder  as  usual  came  in  first,  followed  closely  by  the  armed 
guard.  As  the  latter  entered,  Stephen  sprang  upon  him,  and 
his  hands  closed  upon  the  man's  throat  with  so  fierce  a 
grip  that  the  musket  fell  instantly  from  the  fellow's  hands. 
Without  losing  his  grasp  in  the  slightest  Stephen  whirled 
him  round  and  threw  him  against  the  warder,  whom  the  shock 
brought  to  the  ground,  Stephen  hurling  the  already  almost 
insensible  soldier  upon  him.  Seizing  the  musket  he  brought 
the  butt  end  down  upon  the  soldier's  head  with  a  force  amply 
sufficient  to  stun  him ;  then  he  rolled  him  off  the  warder's 
body  and  helped  the  latter  to  his  feet. 

"  I  was  obliged  to  be  rough  with  you,"  he  said,  "  in  order 
that  that  fellow  when  he  comes  to  his  senses  may  confirm  your 
story  that  you  were  at  once  knocked  down.  Of  course  I 
shall  tie  and  gag  you  both." 

"  Yes,  and  before  you  go  you  had  better  give  me  a  tap  with 
that  musket.  You  need  not  hit  me  quite  so  hard  as  you 
did  him,  but  it  must  be  hard  enough  to  make  a  good  bump. 
You  needn't  be  afraid  of  hurting  me.  I  am  well  paid  for 
anything  that  may  happen,  though  indeed  I  did  not  expect  it 
to  come  like  this." 

"  In  the  first  place  I  am  going  to  take  your  clothes,"  Stephen 
said.  "You  can  say  that  you  were  insensible  when  I  stripped 
you  ;  but  first  I  want  you  to  tell  me  how  I  can  get  out." 

"You  won't  have  much  difficulty  about  that,"  the  man 


STEPHEN   MAKES  A   DASH   FOR   LIBERTY,    AND  GRAPPLES   WITH   THE 
GUARD. 


FRIENDS    IN    NEED  283 

replied.  "When  we  have  taken  round  supper  our  work  is 
done  for  the  night,  and  half  of  us  are  free  to  go  out  and  spend 
the  evening.  You  turn  down  the  first  staircase  you  come  to, 
follow  it  to  the  bottom,  then  take  the  corridor  to  the  right 
and  go  on  until  you  come  to  an  open  door.  Two  soldiers 
will  be  standing  there  on  sentry,  but  they  ask  no  questions  of 
the  warders.  You  had  better  wait  when  you  get  in  sight  of 
the  door  till  you  see  that  no  one  else  is  going  out,  or  it  might 
be  noticed  that  you  were  a  stranger  and  questions  might  be 
asked  you.  Now  you  had  better  lose  no  time,  or  the  others 
may  be  out  before  you  get  there,  and  the  door  be  shut." 

As  he  spoke  he  was  taking  off  his  uniform,  which  consisted 
of  a  dark  jacket,  trousers,  and  cap,  and  a  brown  belt  from 
which  hung  a  sword.  Stephen  put  them  on,  then  tightly 
bound  the  insensible  man,  whose  lungs  were  now  playing, 
stuffed  a  portion  of  the  rug  into  his  mouth  and  fastened  it  there 
with  a  strip  tied  at  the  back  of  the  head.  Then  he  similarly 
bound  and  gagged  the  warder,  and  then  gave  him  a  heavy 
blow  on  the  head,  feeling  that  it  was  best  for  the  man  himself 
that  it  should  be  a  severe  one.  Then  he  took  the  sentry's 
musket  and  hid  it  under  the  bed,  so  that,  if  by  any  chance  he 
managed  to  free  himself  of  his  bonds,  he  could  not  fire  it  to 
give  the  alarm.  Then  putting  the  cap  on  his  head  Stephen  went 
out,  bolted  the  door,  and  proceeded  down  the  corridor.  Fol- 
lowing the  instructions  that  had  been  given  him  he  made  his 
way  towards  the  door.  Just  as  he  neared  it  he  saw  a  group  of 
three  or  four  warders  going  out  together,  and  waiting  for  a 
moment  till  they  had  disappeared  boldly  followed  them,  and 
passed  between  the  sentries  into  the  open  air.  So  rapidly 
and  easily  had  the  escape  been  managed  that  he  could  scarcely 
believe  that  he  had  escaped  from  the  hands  of  the  military 
authorities,  still  less  from  the  fate  that  would  have  awaited 
him  had  he  fallen  into  the  hands  of  the  Inquisition.  Not 


284  WITH    COCHRANE    THE    DAUNTLESS 

knowing  which  was  the  front  of  the  building,  he  followed  the 
lane,  upon  which  the  side  door  opened,  to  its  end,  and  then 
finding  that  he  was  now  at  the  rear  of  the  prison  he  returned  ; 
and  gaining  the  street  in  which  was  the  main  entrance,  fol- 
lowed out  his  instructions  and  tapped  three  times  at  the  door 
of  the  house  indicated.  There  was  a  little  pause  and  then  it 
was  opened  a  short  distance. 

"  Is  it  you,  senor?  "  a  female  voice  asked. 

"  It  is  the  man  whom  you  are,  I  believe,  expecting,  and  who 
received  your  message." 

With  an  exclamation  of  gladness  the  woman  opened  the 
door  and,  as  he  entered,  closed  it  behind  him. 

"Follow  me,  senor,"  she  said ;  "there  is  nothing  in  the 
passage  to  run  against. ' ' 

A  few  steps  further  Stephen  heard  a  door  open,  a  flood  of 
light  poured  into  the  passage,  and  his  guide  said  "  Quick  !  " 
He  entered  and  she  closed  the  door  behind  him. 

"Thanks  to  the  saints  that  you  have  escaped,  senor!  "  a 
voice  said.  "  It  seemed  to  us  well-nigh  impossible  that  you 
could  do  so  ;  but,  knowing  how  brave  and  enterprising  you 
English  are,  Filippo  said  that  he  had  great  faith  that  you 
might  manage  it." 

Stephen  now  saw  that  the  speaker  was  a  young  and  very 
pretty  girl. 

"  I  am  speaking  to  the  Senorita  Inez  Conchas,"  he  said 
respectfully.  "  How  can  I  thank  you  and  Don  Filippo  suffi- 
ciently for  your  action  in  my  behalf.  You  have  saved  my 
life,  for  assuredly  had  I  not  known  that  I  should  be  handed 
over  to  the  Inquisition  no  thought  of  making  my  escape  to- 
night would  have  entered  my  mind." 

"  It  is  all  Filippo's  doing,"  she  said.  "  He  made  me  write 
the  letter,  and  got  me  to  come  here  because  he  could  not  come 
himself — I  and  my  old  nurse  with  me.  She  is  sitting  in  the 


FRIENDS    IN    NEED  285 

front  room  on  watch  ;  it  was  she  who  opened  the  door  to  you. 
You  see,  we  could  not  be  sure  whether  the  note  would  reach 
you ;  the  man  whom  we  bribed  might  have  turned  traitor  and 
given  it  to  the  governor.  My  nurse  arranged  it  ;  for  it  would 
never  have  done  for  Filippo  to  have  appeared  in  the  matter, 
and  I  am  so  well  known  in  the  place  that  it  would  have  been 
very  dangerous.  However,  we  hoped  that  all  would  be  well, 
for  half  the  man's  bribe  was  not  to  be  paid  to  him  until  you 
were  free.  However,  we  placed  her  at  the  corner  of  the  street 
this  afternoon  in  order  to  watch  if  anyone  came  to  this  house 
or  stopped  to  look  at  it  earnestly.  The  people  are  away  in  the 
country,  and  my  nurse,  who  knew  the  woman  who  is  left  in 
charge  here,  got  her  to  lend  her  the  key  until  to-morrow  morn- 
ing, on  some  excuse  or  other.  Filippo  brought  me  round 
just  before  dark;  there  is  an  entertainment  to-night  at  the 
Viceroy's,  and  he  had  to  be  there.  Indeed,  it  was  the  best 
place  he  could  be,  as  no  suspicion  can  now  fall  upon  him  of 
having  aided  in  your  escape.  How  did  you  manage  it, 
senor?" 

Stephen  briefly  related  how  it  had  been  brought  about. 

"  That  was  well  done  indeed  !  "  the  girl  said,  clapping  her 
hands  merrily.  "I  scarce  thought  that  it  could  be  your 
knock  when  you  came,  for  we  had  agreed  that  if  you  did  man- 
age to  make  your  escape  it  would  not  be  until  very  late,  and 
it  seemed  impossible  that  you  could  have  got  out  so  early. 
However,  that  is  all  the  better,  as  you  will  now  have  a  long 
start.  Now,  sefior,  the  first  thing  for  you  to  do  will  be  to  put 
on  the  disguise  Filippo  has  prepared  for  you  in  that  bag  on  the 
table.  Here  is  a  piece  of  burnt  cork  for  darkening  your  eye- 
brows and  eyelashes,  and  a  false  moustache  that  will  quite 
change  your  appearance.  I  will  go  into  the  next  room  with 
nurse ;  when  you  are  dressed  you  can  call,  and  I  will  come 
back." 


286  WITH    COCHRANE    THE    DAUNTLESS 

As  soon  as  he  was  alone  Stephen  opened  the  bag  and  drew 
out  an  attire  such  as  would  be  worn  by  a  respectable  Peruvian 
merchant.  This  he  put  on,  darkened  his  eyebrows,  and  stuck 
on  the  moustache,  and  acknowledged  when  he  viewed  himself 
in  a  small  mirror  that  he  should  not  have  known  himself.  On 
his  opening  the  door  the  girl  came  in  from  the  other  room 
again. 

"  We  have  talked  over,  Filippo  and  I,  the  way  you  had 
best  go,  and  we  both  agree  that  the  journey  south  would  be 
altogether  too  dangerous.  It  will  naturally  be  supposed  that 
you  have  gone  that  way,  and  the  news  will  be  sent  down  by 
horsemen,  so  that  the  troops  and  the  authorities  will  be  on 
the  look-out  for  you  everywhere.  We  both  think  that,  although 
the  journey  is  very  long  and  toilsome,  your  best  plan  will  be 
to  ride  straight  inland,  cross  the  Andes,  and  come  down  into 
Brazil.  You  are  not  likely  to  be  questioned  on  that  line, 
which  no  one  would  imagine  that  you  would  be  likely  to 
take.  You  may  meet  with  adventures  on  the  way,  but  you 
English  people  are  fond  of  adventures.  At  any  rate  that  plan 
will  be  safer  for  you,  and  indeed  for  us." 

"  Why  for  you,  senorita  ?  " 

"  If  you  were  to  be  captured,"  she  said,  "  you  would  be 
questioned  as  to  who  aided  you,  and  there  are  means  in  these 
prisons  by  which  they  can  wring  the  truth  from  the  strongest 
and  bravest.  There  are  tortures,  senor,  that  flesh  and  blood 
could  not  withstand." 

"You  are  right,  Donna  Inez,"  Stephen  said  gravely. 
"For  myself  I  should  be  ready  to  run  the  risk  of  getting 
through  to  the  south,  but  what  you  have  said  decides  me.  I 
would  die  rather  than  say  a  word  that  could  betray  you  and 
your  cousin.  But  no  one  can  say  what  one  would  do  under 
fiendish  tortures  ;  therefore  I  at  once  accept  your  plan." 

"  That  is  right,"  the  girl  said.      "  Filippo  said  that  he  was 


FRIENDS    IN    NEED  287 

sure  that  for  our  sake  you  would  consent  to  it.  Now  for  your 
instructions.  Nurse  will,  in  the  first  place,  take  me  home ; 
then  she  will  return  here ;  she  will  be  back  in  half  an  hour. 
She  will  take  away  with  her  the  things  that  you  have  worn, 
and  will  to-night  cut  them  up  and  burn  them,  so  that  no  trace 
may  remain  of  your  visit  here.  When  she  returns  she  will 
guide  you  through  the  town.  At  a  cottage  a  quarter  of  a 
mile  outside  a  muleteer  with  two  animals  is  awaiting  you  ;  he 
does  not  know  who  you  are,  but  believes  you  to  be  a  Brazilian 
who  has  been  on  this  side  of  the  continent  for  some  years, 
chiefly  in  Chili,  and  so  speak  that  language,  and  now,  being 
afraid  to  proceed  by  water,  are  about  to  return  by  the  passes. 
How  far  you  will  be  able  to  get  him  to  accompany  you  I  can- 
not say,  but  at  present  he  has  promised  to  take  you  over  the 
Andes.  The  best  course  to  take  then  you  can  talk  over  with 
the  muleteer.  You  will  find  many  details  of  the  various 
routes  in  a  letter  Filippo  has  given  him  for  you.  And  now 
adieu,  senor.  We  shall  think  of  you  often,  and  I  shall  pray 
for  your  safe  return  to  your  friends.  Possibly  we  may  meet 
again  someday,  for  Filippo  has  a  powerful  relation  who,  it  is 
expected,  may  some  day  be  the  Spanish  ambassador  in  Lon- 
don, and  he  says  that  he  shall  try  and  get  him  to  take  him  on 
his  staff." 

"I  should  indeed  be  glad  if  it  could  be  so,  sefiorita.  I 
shall  to  the  end  of  my  life  entertain  the  liveliest  feelings  of 
gratitude  to  you  and  Don  Filippo  for  your  kindness.  Have 
you  a  pencil  and  paper  ?  " 

The  girl  pointed  to  the  table,  on  which  stood  writing 
materials.  Stephen  wrote  his  father's  address  upon  it  and 
handed  it  to  her. 

"  That  is  my  address  in  England,"  he  said.  "  I  pray  you, 
when  you  return  to  Spain,  to  beg  Don  Filippo  to  write  to  me 
there,  and  I  am  sure  to  get  it  sooner  or  later.  Directly  I  receive 


288  WITH    COCHRANE    THE    DAUNTLESS 

his  letter  I  shall  make  a  point  of  taking  a  passage  for  Spain  in 
order  to  thank  you  more  fully  and  heartily  than  I  can  now  do. 
It  would  be  dangerous  were  I  to  write  to  you  here." 

She  nodded.      "Adieu,  senor." 

"  Adieu,  senorita.  May  your  life  with  Don  Filippo  be  as 
happy  as  you  both  deserve  !  ' ' 

He  put  the  hand  she  gave  him  to  his  lips.  A  minute  later 
she  and  her  nurse  left  the  house,  and  Stephen  remained  won- 
dering over  the  events  that  had  happened. 

"  It  is  certainly  the  best  plan,"  he  said  to  himself.  "I 
daresay  there  will  be  lots  of  hardships  to  go  through,  but  it 
will  be  a  glorious  trip.  Fancy  going  down  the  Amazon  from 
almost  its  source  to  the  sea !  The  senorita  said  nothing 
about  money,  but  Filippo  has  shown  himself  so  thoughtful  in 
every  other  way  that  I  have  no  doubt  he  has  not  forgotten 
that  for  such  a  journey  some  money  at  least  will  be  required. 
Happily  I  am  now  in  a  position  to  pay  anything  he  may  ad- 
vance me,  so  I  need  not  scruple  to  take  it.  He  told  me  that 
his  father  was  very  rich,  but  that  money  was  very  little  good 
to  him  in  Peru,  and  that  he  had  a  very  handsome  allowance, 
but  no  means  whatever  of  spending  it,  especially  in  such  a 
place  as  San  Carlos.  I  will  write  him  a  line  or  two  now,  and 
will  give  it  to  the  old  woman  after  I  have  read  his  letter." 

He  sat  down  and  wrote  a  note  expressive  of  his  warmest 
gratitude  to  Filippo,  and  concluded  :  "  In  other  matters  too  I 
am  deeply  your  debtor,  but  this  fortunately  I  can,  as  I  told  you, 
discharge  far  more  easily  than  I  can  my  debt  of  gratitude.  As 
soon  as  I  reach  England  I  will  pay  in  the  amount  to  a  house 
having  connections  in  Spain,  and  order  them  to  have  it  placed 
to  your  account  with  some  good  firm  there,  with  instructions  to 
write  to  you  saying  that  they  hold  it  payable  to  your  order.  My 
name  will  not  be  mentioned,  so  that  in  case  of  any  accident  the 
money  will  not  be  traceable  to  me.  My  other  and  greater  debt 


FRIENDS    IN    NEED  289 

must  for  ever  remain  unpaid,  but  to  the  end  of  my  life  I  shall 
remain  the  debtor  of  you  and  Donna  Inez.  Wishing  you  both 
a  long  life  and  every  happiness  together,  I  remain  always  your 
grateful  friend. ' ' 

He  folded  the  letter  up  and  put  it  into  his  pocket,  and  then 
waited  until  he  heard  the  three  knocks  on  the  door.  Stephen 
blew  out  the  candle,  went  along  the  passage  to  the  front  door, 
opened  it,  and  went  out.  Without  a  word  the  old  woman 
turned  and  walked  along  the  street.  He  followed  at  a  short 
distance,  and  was  presently  in  a  busy  thoroughfare.  Twenty 
minutes'  walking  took  them  beyond  the  town,  and  they  pres- 
ently stopped  at  a  cottage  where  a  candle  was  burning  in  the 
window. 

"  This  is  the  house,  senor,"  she  said,  speaking  for  the  first 
time. 

She  went  up  to  the  door  and  tapped  at  it.  It  was  opened 
by  a  man  in  the  attire  of  a  muleteer. 

"  This  is  the  senor  who  will  accompany  you,  Gomez,"  she 
said.  "Now,  senor,  my  work  is  done."  And  she  turned 
to  go. 

"  Wait  a  moment,"  he  said.  "  Gomez  has  a  letter  for  me, 
and  I  want  to  read  it  before  I  give  you  a  note  that  I  wish  you 
to  take  back  and  to  hand  to  Donna  Inez." 

"  Here  is  the  letter,  senor,"  the  muleteer  said. 

Stephen  took  it  to  the  light  and  opened  it.  It  was  a  long 
one,  but  he  skipped  the  first  part,  which  was  full  of  directions 
and  hints  for  the  journey.  Running  his  eye  down  it  fell  upon 
some  figures,  and  he  read  :  "  Gomez  will  hand  you  a  bag  con- 
taining eight  hundred  dollars.  This,  I  have  no  doubt,  will  be 
sufficient  for  your  journey  down  the  Amazon  and  to  pay  your 
passage-money  home.  You  are  heartily  welcome  to  it.  Some 
day,  if  it  please  you,  you  can  pay  me  back  ;  but  if  aught  befalls 
you  on  your  way  down  do  not  let  the  thought  of  this  paltry  debt 


290  WITH    COCHRANE    THE    DAUNTLESS 

trouble  you  in  any  way.  I  know  not  whether  this  will  ever 
reach  your  hands,  but  pray  that  it  may  do  so,  and  that  I  may 
have  the  satisfaction  of  knowing  that  Inez  and  I  have  had  some 
part  in  saving  the  life  of  a  brave  English  gentleman. ' '  Then 
with  a  few  more  words  of  adieu  the  letter  closed. 

Stephen  had  already  felt  that  there  was  some  money  in  the 
pockets  of  his  trousers,  and  he  now  handed  his  letter  to  the 
old  woman  and  pulled  out  some  gold. 

"  No,"  she  said,  drawing  back  ;  "  I  would  die  to  please  my 
young  mistress,  but  not  one  penny  would  I  touch  from  the 
hand  of  a  foreign  heretic." 

A  minute  later  and  she  was  gone.  The  muleteer  laughed  at 
her  outbreak.  "Well,  well,"  he  said,  "how  people  differ; 
now,  for  my  part,  when  I  receive  payment  for  the  work  of 
my  mules  I  care  not  in  the  least  whether  it  comes  from  a 
heretic's  pockets  or  those  of  a  good  Catholic.  But  I  did  not 
know  that  you  Brazilians  were  heretics,  senor." 

"  As  a  rule  we  are  not,"  Stephen  said,  "  but  my  case  is  an 
exception  ;  I  will  tell  you  more  about  it  on  the  journey. 
Callao  is  not  the  town  where  it  is  safe  to  be  a  heretic." 

"  No,  indeed,"  the  muleteer  said  with  a  laugh  ;  "  however, 
it  is  no  business  of  mine,  senor.  A  gentleman  whose  name  I 
know  not,  but  to  whom  I  was  recommended  by  a  cousin  of 
mine,  who  is  a  relation  of  the  old  woman  who  has  just  left  us, 
made  a  bargain  with  me  to  take  you  to  the  Amazon  or  a  river 
running  into  it.  He  agreed  to  give  me  my  own  terms.  He 
paid  me  a  third  of  the  money  in  advance,  and  said  that  you 
would  pay  me  the  remainder  at  the  end  of  the  journey.  He  said 
that  you  were  a  Brazilian,  and  spoke  Chilian  better  than  our 
tongue ;  though,  indeed,  they  are  so  much  alike  that  one 
passes  as  well  as  the  other,  or  did  till  this  war  began.  That 
account  of  you  may  be  true  or  it  may  not,  it  is  no  business 
whatever  of  mine.  A  man  says  to  me,  I  want  you  to  carry  a 


AN    INDIAN    GUIDE  291 

bag  of  salt  to  such  a  place.  I  agree  as  to  the  terms,  and  it  is 
no  matter  to  me  whether  the  sack  contains  salt  or  sand  as  long 
as  the  weight  is  the  same.  Your  things  all  came  up  here  to- 
day, senor — your  wallet,  and  your  sword,  and  a  brace  of  pis- 
tols, a  rifle  and  a  bird  gun.  You  will  find  everything  right. 
I  understood  that  it  was  your  wish,  for  some  reason  which  was 
again  no  business  of  mine,  to  start  as  soon  as  you  arrived,  and 
I  have  three  mules  standing  saddled  in  the  stable  if  you  are 
ready  to  start. ' ' 

"  I  should  certainly  be  glad  to  do  so,  Gomez.  I  have, 
as  you  say,  my  reasons  for  wanting  to  be  off  as  soon  as 
possible." 

Accordingly  the  three  mules  were  at  once  brought  round, 
the  baggage  divided  between  them,  and  five  minutes  later, 
after  blowing  out  the  candle  and  locking  the  door  behind 
him,  the  muleteer  mounted  and  rode  off  with  Stephen. 


CHAPTER    XVI 

AN   INDIAN    GUIDE 

"  f\F  course,  we  must  go  through  Lima,"  Stephen  said,  as 

U     they  started. 

"Assuredly,  senor;  the  roads  over  the  passes  all  start 
from  there,  and  it  would  take  us  a  long  circuit  to  avoid  the 
town." 

"  Oh,  there  is  no  occasion  to  avoid  it,"  Stephen  said. 
"  It  is  about  five  miles,  is  it  not  ?  " 

"That  is  the  distance;  but,  as  the  road  ascends  a  good 
deal,  we  generally  count  it  as  six.  It  is  a  fine  city,  Lima, 
and  I  hope  that  it  will  not  be  very  long  before  we  shall  be 


292  WITH    COCHRANE    THE    DAUNTLESS 

able  to  enjoy  it  without  the  presence  of  the  Spaniards;  we 
think  they  cannot  remain  here  much  longer.  If  the  Chilian 
army  would  but  move  from  the  sea-coast,  the  whole  country 
would  be  up  in  arms.  We  would  rather  have  done  without 
the  Chilians  if  we  could,  for  there  has  never  been  any  great 
friendship  between  them  and  the  Peruvians.  I  do  not  say 
between  them  and  us,  for  I  am  almost  as  much  Chilian  as 
Peruvian,  seeing  that  I  was  born  within  half  a  mile  of  the 
frontier  and  high  up  in  the  hills.  But  there  is  more  money 
to  be  made  here.  In  the  first  place,  the  Peruvians  have  more 
towns  beyond  the  passes,  and  there  is  more  traffic;  and  in 
the  next  place,  in  Chili  most  men  are  ready  to  work  if  there 
is  money  to  be  made,  whereas  most  of  the  Peruvians  are  too 
lazy  to  pick  up  gold  if  it  lay  at  their  feet.  Most  men  in  our 
business  come  from  the  hills." 

"And  why  don't  the  Peruvians  and  Chilians  like  each 
other?" 

"  Who  can  tell.  The  Chilians  have  a  colder  climate,  and 
the  people  for  the  most  part  came  from  the  north  of  Spain  ; 
they  are  hardier  and  more  active ;  then,  too,  they  are  not 
so  strict  in  church  matters,  and  here  they  call  them  heretics, 
and  a  Peruvian  hates  a  heretic  a  great  deal  worse  than  he  does 
the  father  of  all  evil.  We  muleteers  pray  to  the  saints  for  pro- 
tection on  our  journeys,  and  before  we  start  on  along  expedi- 
tion burn  a  few  candles  at  the  shrine  of  our  patron  saint,  and 
we  never  pass  a  shrine  or  a  wayside  cross  without  making  a 
prayer  ;  but  we  don't  concern  ourselves  with  other  people's 
religion ;  that  is  their  business,  not  ours.  But  that  is  not  so 
with  the  Spaniards,  and  the  Peruvians  are  just  as  bad.  You 
may  kill  a  man  in  a  knife  fight,  and  no  one  cares  much  about  it ; 
but  if  you  were  to  pass  a  village  shrine  without  raising  your 
sombrero  they  would  be  ready  to  tear  you  in  pieces  as  a 
heretic. ' ' 


AN    INDIAN    GUIDE  293 

"What  is  the  country  like  when  you  once  get  over  the 
mountains?  " 

"  It  is  a  tree  country,  and  generally  flat.  Here  you  see  the 
hillsides  are  mostly  bare ;  but  on  the  other  side  of  the  ranges 
of  mountains  —  for  there  are  two  chains  —  the  forest  grows 
almost  to  the  top,  and,  as  I  have  heard,  they  extend  thousands 
of  miles  over  the  country  beyond.  In  these  great  forests 
there  are  swamps  and  rivers,  great  rivers.  Very  few  white 
men  know  where  they  rise  or  how  they  go,  but  they  all  run 
into  the  largest  of  them  all,  which,  when  it  gets  near  the  sea, 
is  called  the  Amazon,  but  which  has  many  names  at  different 
points  of  its  course.  They  say  that  some  of  these  rivers  have 
many  rapids  and  falls,  and  on  almost  all  of  them  there  are 
Indians  who  are  more  dangerous  still ;  some  of  them,  they 
say,  eat  men  who  fall  into  their  hands. 

"  It  is  a  terrible  journey  that  you  are  undertaking,  senor. 
One  thing  is  certain  :  you  must  take  with  you  some  man  of 
courage  and  resolution,  one  who  at  least  knows  something  of 
the  country.  No  man  knows  much  ;  but  there  are  men, 
Indians,  who  make  it  their  business  either  to  trade  or  to  guide 
traders.  Of  course,  they  never  go  very  far,  but  they  have 
gone  far  enough  to  know  much  of  the  nature  of  the  dangers 
and  difficulties." 

"  Do  you  think  that  you  would  be  able  to  find  me  such  a 
man?" 

"There  are  many,"  the  muleteer  said;  "but  it  is  not 
everyone  that  can  be  trusted.  I  know  of  one  man  who,  if  he 
happened  to  be  at  home  and  disengaged,  would  suit  you  well, 
if  he  would  undertake  such  a  journey.  He  would  go  if  any- 
one would,  for  no  dangers  terrify  him,  and  he  has  made,  be- 
fore now,  perilous  expeditions  with  officers  and  others  who 
have  sought  to  discover  the  sources  of  the  rivers.  He  lives  in 
a  village  but  a  few  miles  from  the  summit  of  the  pass,  and  if 


294  WITH    COCHRANE   THE   DAUNTLESS 

you  have  not  as  yet  decided  on  your  route,  he  will,  at  any 
rate,  if  he  cannot  go  himself,  give  you  better  advice  than  you 
can  obtain  from  anyone  else  I  know  of." 

They  passed  through  the  city  of  Lima  unnoticed.  There 
were  still  numbers  of  people  in  the  streets,  and  the  sound  of 
musical  instruments  came  from  the  open  windows.  Parties  of 
ladies  stood  on  the  balconies  and  were  enjoying  the  coolness 
of  the  night  air,  and  it  was  evident  that  Lima  had  no  thoughts 
of  going  to  bed  for  a  long  time  yet. 

"You  would  hardly  see  a  soul  in  the  streets  while  the  sun 
is  high,"  the  muleteer  said,  upon  Stephen  remarking  on  the 
number  of  people  still  about.  "The  whole  town  goes  to 
sleep  from  eleven  to  four  or  five,  the  shops  are  all  closed,  and 
save  on  a  business  of  life  or  death  no  one  would  think  of 
going  out.  About  six  the  day  really  begins,  and  goes  on 
until  one  in  the  morning ;  then  people  sleep  till  five  or  six, 
and  for  a  time  the  streets  are  busy ;  the  marketing  is  done 
then,  the  ladies  all  go  to  early  mass,  the  troops  do  their  exer- 
cises ;  by  nine  the  streets  begin  to  thin,  and  by  ten  they  are 
deserted." 

Stephen  was  much  struck  with  the  appearance  of  the  town, 
which  had  been  laid  out  with  great  care,  the  streets  running  at 
right  angles  to  each  other,  and  being  all  precisely  the  same 
width,  dividing  the  town  into  regular  blocks.  It  contained 
at  that  time  some  70,000  inhabitants.  He  was  surprised  at 
the  want  of  height  in  the  houses,  comparatively  few  of  which 
had  more  than  one  story.  On  remarking  on  this  to  the 
muleteer,  the  latter  said  : 

"It  is  because  of  the  earthquakes  ;  nowhere  are  there  such 
bad  earthquakes  as  here.  If  it  were  not  for  that  Lima  would 
be  perfect.  The  country  round  is  very  fertile,  there  is  an 
abundance  of  pure  water,  the  climate  is  healthy,  and  it  lies 
600  feet  above  the  sea.  But  the  earthquakes  are  terrible; 


AN    INDIAN    GUIDE  295 

there  has  not  been  a  bad  one  lately,  but  it  might  come  at  any 
time.  Every  twenty  or  thirty  years  there  is  a  very  bad  one. 
The  worst  were  those  of  1687  and  1746;  the  first  destroyed 
every  house  in  Lima,  and  the  second  was  almost  as  bad,  but 
was  much  worse  at  Callao.  There  they  not  only  had  the 
earthquake,  but  a  tumult  of  waves  such  as  never  was  before 
seen.  The  sea  went  right  over  the  town,  and  almost  every 
soul  there,  and  at  other  towns  along  the  coast,  perished. 
There  were  twenty-three  ships  in  the  harbour  at  Callao  ;  nine- 
teen of  these  were  sunk  and  the  other  four  carried  half  a  mile 
inland.  Since  then  there  has  been  nothing  like  that,  but  the 
Indians  say  that  we  may  expect  another  before  long.  I  don't 
know  what  they  go  by,  but  people  say  that  they  predicted  the 
others  long  before  they  came.  Have  you  ever  felt  an  earth- 
quake, seiior  ? ' ' 

"  No.  There  was  a  very  slight  shock  when  I  was  at  Val- 
paraiso, but  it  was  not  much  more  than  the  rumble  a  heavy 
wagon  makes  in  the  street,  and  did  no  damage  whatever." 

"  I  have  never  felt  a  great  earthquake,"  the  muleteer  said, 
"  but  I  have  felt  little  ones.  The  animals  always  know  when 
they  are  coming,  and  when  I  see  the  mules  uneasy  and  appre- 
hensive, I  always  choose  some  level  spot  where  there  is  no 
fear  of  rocks  coming  rolling  down  on  us,  and  halt  there.  The 
first  shock  may  be  so  slight  that  one  hardly  feels  it,  but  the 
mules  know  all  about  it.  They  straddle  their  legs  and  brace 
themselves  up  or  else  lie  down  on  the  ground.  When  I  see 
them  do  that  I  know  that  the  next  shock  is  going  to  be  a  smart 
one,  and  I  lie  down  too.  It  is  nothing  when  you  are  out  in  the 
country,  but  in  the  towns  it  is  terrible.  People  rush  out  into 
the  streets  screaming  with  fear.  If  they  are  near  a  church 
they  make  for  that ;  if  not,  they  kneel  down  in  the  streets, 
where  they  are  pretty  safe,  the  houses  being  so  low  and  mostly 
thatched.  I  have  never  seen  one  severe  enough  to  bring  the 


296  WITH  COCHRANE  THE  DAUNTLESS 

» 

houses  down,  but  I  have  seen  them  crack,  and  parapets  tumble 
down,  and  great  pieces  peel  off  the  walls.  What  with  the 
dust,  and  the  screams  of  the  women  and  children,  and  the 
ringing  of  all  the  church  bells,  it  is  enough  to  shake  a  man's 
courage  I  can  tell  you." 

After  proceeding  some  ten  miles  farther,  by  a  road  always 
ascending  and  often  steep,  a  halt  was  made.  The  muleteer 
removed  the  valises  and  packs,  gave  a  double  handful  of  corn 
to  each  animal,  and  then,  hobbling  them,  allowed  them  to 
wander  about  to  pick  up  what  they  could.  He  and  Stephen 
partook  of  some  of  the  food  they  had  brought  with  them,  and 
then  wrapping  themselves  in  their  cloaks  lay  down  for  a  few 
hours'  sleep.  At  daylight  the  journey  was  renewed.  So  they 
travelled  on,  halting  for  five  or  six  hours  in  the  heat  of  the 
day,  and  riding  in  the  morning  early,  and  late  on  into  the 
evening.  The  climate,  however,  scarcely  necessitated  the 
mid-day  halt,  and  at  night  they  were  glad  to  wrap  themselves 
in  a  blanket  in  addition  to  the  cloak.  At  last  the  summit  of 
the  pass  was  reached.  In  front  of  them  rose  another  chain  of 
mountains  almost  as  lofty  as  that  which  they  had  climbed. 
Between  these  great  ranges  lay  a  plain  varying  in  width. 
Several  towns  and  small  villages  were  visible. 

"  That  is  Jauja  to  the  right,"  the  muleteer  said,  "  and  that 
is  Pasco  to  the  left ;  they  are  both  large  towns.  They  do  not 
look  so  very  far  apart  from  here.  But  the  air  of  the  moun- 
tains is  so  clear  it  is  difficult  to  judge  distances.  You  would  not 
take  them  to  be  much  more  than  twenty  miles  from  us ;  they 
are  nearly  three  times  as  far,  and  are  fully  eighty  miles  apart. ' ' 

"  Where  does  the  guide  of  whom  you  spoke  live?  " 

"  It  is  some  twenty  miles  down ;  it  is  where  the  roads  from 
the  two  towns  fall  into  this  pass.  It  is  convenient  for  him, 
because  he  is  in  the  track  of  merchants  going  either  north  or 
south." 


AN   INDIAN   GUIDE  297 

No  stay  was  made  on  the  top  of  the  pass,  for  the  wind  was 
strong  and  piercing.  There  were  snow-covered  peaks  on  either 
hand,  and  so  they  hurried  onwards,  although  they  had  already 
done  a  long  morning's  march.  Five  miles  farther  they  halted 
in  a  wood,  and  although  they  had  already  made  a  descent  of 
some  thousand  feet  they  were  glad  to  light  a  fire.  On  the 
following  day  they  halted  early  at  a  solitary  hut  standing  at 
the  junction  of  two  roads. 

"  Bravo  !  "  the  muleteer  said  as  the  door  opened  and  a  man 
came  out  at  the  sound  of  the  mules'  feet ;  "  here  is  Pita  him- 
self. I  thought  we  should  find  him,  for,  since  the  war  began, 
trade  has  gone  off  greatly,  and  he  was  likely  to  be  out  of  em- 
ployment. Well  met,  Pita ;  I  was  in  hopes  that  I  should  find 
you  here,  for  the  senor  has  need  of  the  services  of  a  bold 
fellow  like  yourself." 

"Enter,  senor,"  the  Indian  said  gravely,  lifting  his  som- 
brero, for  he  was  dressed  in  Peruvian  fashion.  "It  is  long 
since  I  have  seen  you,  Gomez." 

"  Yes,  a  full  year,"  the  muleteer  replied ;  "  it  was  at  Cuzco, 
and  you  were  just  starting  with  a  party  of  traders." 

The  hut  contained  little  furniture,  but  there  was  a  pile  of 
skins,  the  proceeds  of  the  Indian's  hunting  since  his  return 
from  his  last  expedition.  He  took  off  three  or  four  of  them, 
threw  them  on  the  ground,  and  motioned  Stephen  to  take  a 
seat  while  he  busied  himself  in  preparing  a  meal.  Nothing 
was  said  of  business  until  this  was  served.  When  it  was 
finished  the  Indian  rolled  three  cigars,  and  when  these  were 
lighted,  and  three  cups  of  excellent  coffee  made,  Pita  said : 

"  Now,  sefior,  in  what  way  can  I  serve  you?  " 

"  I  want  to  go  down  the  Amazon  to  the  coast." 

"  It  is  a  long  journey,  long  and  difficult ;  I  have  never  been 
so  far.  The  farthest  point  that  I  have  reached  has  been  Barra, 
where  the  Madeira  falls  into  the  Solimoes." 


298  WITH    COCHRANE    THE    DAUNTLESS 

"That  is  the  Amazon,"  Gomez  explained.  "  It  is  called 
the  Maranon  here  in  Peru,  but  from  the  frontier  it  is  known 
as  the  Solimoes." 

"As  far  as  the  frontier,"  Pita  went  on,  "there  are  no 
great  difficulties,  and  there  are  many  towns  on  the  banks ; 
beyond  that  to  Barra  there  are  but  one  or  two  villages.  The 
Mozon  begins  at  Llata,  some  two  hundred  miles  north  of  this. 
The  road  is  a  good  one,  for  we  pass  through  Pasco  and 
Huanuco ;  there  you  can  take  boat,  which  will  carry  you  as 
far  as  the  frontier,  and  beyond  that  you  will  have  to  take 
another,  for  no  Peruvians  will  venture  so  far  from  here." 

"The  senor  wishes  to  escape  towns,"  Gomez  said.  "  He 
has  no  papers,  and  wishes  to  escape  questioning.  You  know 
what  Spanish  authorities  are,  and  how  suspiciously  they  view 
the  passage  of  a  stranger.  Could  you  not  take  him  down  the 
Madeira  ? ' ' 

"It  is  a  terrible  journey,"  the  Indian  said.  "  Very  few 
white  men  have  ever  descended  the  river.  Tht^t  ;vre  bad  falls 
and  bad  Indians.  I  myself  have  never  gone  down  it  more 
than  a  few  hundred  miles.  It  would  need  much  courage, 
senor,  and  even  then  things  might  turn  out  badly.  I  would 
not  undertake  such  a  journey  single-handed,  though  with  a 
good  comrade  I  might  venture  it.  You  could  not  get  a 
boat  unless  you  bought  one,  and,  as  a  rule,  men  travel  on  light 
rafts,  as  these  are  safer  on  the  rapids  than  boats.  That  way 
has  the  advantage  of  being  a  good  deal  shorter  than  going 
round  by  the  Maranon,  but  the  difficulties  and  dangers  are 
very  much  greater." 

"  Do  you  love  the  Spaniards?  "  Stephen  asked. 

The  Indian's  face  darkened. 

"  They  have  been  the  destroyers  of  our  race,"  he  said  ; 
"  the  oppressors  of  our  country.  I  hate  them  with  all  my 
heart." 


AN    INDIAN    GUIDE  299 

"  Then  I  may  tell  you  at  once,"  Stephen  said,  "  that  I  am 
an  Englishman.  I  am  one  of  the  officers  of  the  English 
admiral  who  commands  the  fleet  that  has  destroyed  their  war- 
ships and  is  blockading  their  towns.  I  was  wrecked  on  the 
Peruvian  coast  and  thrown  into  prison.  They  were  about  to 
hand  me  over  to  the  Inquisition  as  a  heretic  when  I  escaped, 
so  you  can  understand  the  danger  that  I  should  run  in  passing 
through  any  of  their  towns.  I  speak,  as  you  hear,  the  Chilian 
dialect,  therefore  I  would  be  detected  as  a  stranger  at  once, 
and  as  I  could  give  no  satisfactory  reply  to  questions,  and  have 
no  papers,  I  should  at  once  be  seized  and  sent  back  again  to 
Callao." 

The  Indian  nodded  gravely.  He  had  heard  of  the  misfort- 
unes that  had  befallen  the  Spaniards,  and  knew  that  the  fleet 
that  had  inflicted  such  damage  upon  them  was  commanded  by 
an  Englishman. 

"The  senor  is  provided  with  money,"  Gomez  said.  "  I 
did  not  myself  know  that  he  was  an  Englishman,  though  I 
suspected  from  the  manner  in  which  I  was  hired  that  he  had 
trouble  with  the  Spaniards." 

"  I  would  have  told  you  so,  Gomez,"  Stephen  said,  "  but 
I  thought  it  better  that  you  should  not  know,  so  that  if  I 
were  seized  by  the  Spaniards  you  could  declare  that  you  were 
wholly  ignorant  of  my  being  an  Englishman,  and  believed 
that  I  was  only  a  trader  travelling  on  business." 

"They  would  not  have  believed  me,"  Gomez  laughed. 
"  You  had  no  goods  with  you,  and  your  speech  showed  that 
you  were  not  a  Peruvian.  I  have  often  wondered  on  the  way 
to  what  nation  you  belonged,  and  how  it  was  that  one  so 
young  could  be  ready  to  undertake  so  desperate  an  enterprise 
as  you  proposed  ;  but  now  that  I  know  you  are  an  officer 
under  the  terrible  English  admiral  I  can  well  understand  it." 

"  I  would  do  much,"  Pita  said,  "  for  any  enemy  of  the 


300  WITH    COCHRANE    THE    DAUNTLESS 

Spaniards ;  and  more  for  this  reason  than  for  the  sake  of 
money.  I  am  ready  to  undertake  to  do  my  best  to  take  you 
i  n  safety  to  Barra ;  beyond  that  I  would  not  go.  The  river 
below  that  is,  as  I  hear,  quite  open,  and  you  could  journey 
down  without  difficulty  save  such  as  you  would  meet  with 
from  the  Portuguese  authorities ;  but  the  distance  would  be 
too  great  for  me  to  return.  Even  from  Barra  it  would  be  a 
journey  fully  two  thousand  miles  home  again." 

"  What  would  be  your  terms  for  taking  me  to  Barra?  " 

"  I  do  not  say  that  I  would  take  you  there,  senor;  I  only 
say  that  I  would  try  and  do  so.  As  I  tell  you,  I  have  never 
journeyed  far  down  the  Madeira  myself,  and  know  not  what 
the  difficulties  may  be.  For  that  reason  I  shall  want  half  the 
money  paid  to  me  when  we  reach  Cuzco,  near  which  live  my 
wife  and  family,  and  I  must  leave  this  with  them  in  case  I 
never  return.  I  will  think  over  what  pay  I  shall  require  for 
myself  and  my  comrade.  It  is  not  a  matter  upon  which  one 
can  decide  at  a  word." 

"  I  can  quite  understand  that,  Pita.  I  must  of  course 
keep  sufficient  in  hand  to  pay  my  expenses  down  to  Para, 
where  I  can  doubtless  obtain  a  passage  by  an  English  ship. 
But  I  am  ready  to  pay  any  sum  you  may  ask  that  is  within  my 
means.  Now,  Gomez,  we  had  better  go  out  and  look  to  the 
mules,  and  leave  Pita  to  himself  to  think  the  matter  over." 

"  The  Indian  will  not  overcharge  you,"  Gomez  said  when 
they  were  outside  the  hut;  "  the  pay  of  these  men  is  small. 
They  value  their  lives  lightly,  and  when,  like  Pita,  they  once 
take  to  the  life  of  a  guide,  either  to  those  who  are  searching 
for  mines  or  to  traders,  they  never  settle  down.  They  are 
proud  of  the  confidence  placed  in  them,  and  of  their  own 
skill  as  guides,  and  so  long  as  they  can  earn  enough  to  keep 
their  families  during  their  absence — and  a  very  little  suffices 
for  that — they  are  contented." 


AN    INDIAN    GUIDE  301 

"  I  suppose  there  are  mines  to  be  discovered  yet,  Gomez  ?  " 
' '  Assuredly  there  are, ' '  the  muleteer  said  confidently.  ' '  The 
Spaniards  have  worked  rich  mines  ever  since  they  came  here, 
but  great  as  is  the  treasure  that  they  have  taken  away,  it  is 
still  insignificant  compared  with  the  store  of  gold  among  the 
Incas  when  they  came  here.  Every  Peruvian  on  this  side  of 
the  Andes  dreams  of  gold,  and  there  are  thousands  of  men 
who, -as  soon  as  they  earn  enough  money  to  buy  tools  and 
provisions,  set  off  to  search  for  gold-mines  or  buried  treasure. 
It  is  certain  that  the  Incas  buried  a  vast  quantity  of  their 
treasure  rather  than  see  it  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  Spaniards, 
and  it  has  never  been  discovered.  It  is  generally  believed 
that  the  secret  of  the  hiding-place  is  known  to  Indians,  who 
have  handed  down  the  secret  from  father  to  son.  This  may 
be  true  or  it  may  not.  So  many  thousands  of  Indians  have 
either  been  killed  by  the  Spaniards  or  have  died  in  their 
mines,  that  it  may  well  be  that  all  who  knew  the  secret  died 
centuries  ago.  But  I  do  not  say  that  it  may  not  be  known 
to  some  of  them  now ;  if  so,  it  is  more  likely  that  these  may 
be  among  the  tribes  beyond  the  boundaries  of  Peru.  There 
are  vast  tracts  there  where  neither  Spaniards  nor  Portuguese 
have  penetrated.  The  whole  country  is  one  great  forest,  or, 
in  some  places,  one  great  desert.' 

"  The  Indians  of  Peru  have  become,  for  the  most  part,  an 
idle,  shiftless  race.  Centuries  of  slavery  have  broken  their 
spirit  altogether,  and  had  the  secret  been  known  to  many  of 
them,  it  would  have  been  wrung  from  them  long  since,  espe- 
cially as  all  are  now  Catholics  and  go  to  confession,  and 
would  never  be  able  to  keep  such  a  secret  from  leaking  out. 
It  is  true  that  there  are  little  Indian  villages  among  the 
mountains  where  the  people  are  still  almost  independent,  and 
here  the  secret  may  still  be  handed  down  ;  but  I  doubt  if  it 
will  ever  be  known.  Doubtless  it  is  guarded  by  such  terrible 


302  WITH    COCHRANE    THE    DAUNTLESS 

oaths  that  those  who  know  it  will  never  dare  to  reveal  it. 
Pita  has  gone,  in  his  time,  with  a  score  of  expeditions  in 
search  of  the  treasure ;  most  01  these  thought  that  they  had 
obtained  some  clue  to  it,  but  nothing  was  ever  discovered, 
and  I  doubt  whether  Pita  himself  was  ever  earnest  in  the 
search. 

"  In  some  respects  he  is  like  ourselves,  in  others  he  is  still 
an  Indian,  and  has  a  full  share  of  Indian  superstitions,  so 
that  his  Christianity  is  no  deeper  than  his  skin.  He  would 
do  his  best  to  guide  those  who  employed  him  to  the  neigh- 
bourhood where  they  thought  that  the  treasure  was  hidden, 
but  I  doubt  whether  he  would  do  anything  to  assist  in  their 
search,  or  would  really  try  to  gather  from  the  Indians  any 
clue  as  to  its  whereabouts." 

"  But  at  any  rate,  the  natives  could  not  very  well  have 
carried  away  their  gold-mines." 

"Not  carried  them  away,  senor —  no;  and  that  the 
Spaniards  had  such  rich  mines  at  first  shows  that  they  did 
learn  from  the  natives — by  torture,  I  daresay — where  most  of 
these  were  situated  ;  but  they  got  more  silver  than  gold,  and 
even  now  there  is  gold  to  be  found  in  the  sands  of  most  of 
the  rivers  in  South  America,  so  that  I  think  it  was  from  wash- 
ings more  than  mines  that  the  Spaniards  got  their  gold.  Still, 
we  all  think  that  there  must  have  been  rich  gold-mines  in  the 
times  before  the  Spaniards,  and  that  when  the  natives  saw 
how  villainously  their  monarch  and  all  his  chief  men  were 
treated,  and  how  the  Spaniards  thought  of  nothing  but  gold 
and  silver,  they  may  have  blocked  up  the  entrances  to  all 
their  richest  mines,  and  in  a  few  years  all  signs  of  the  sites 
would  be  covered  by  thick  vegetation.  You  see,  senor,  these 
things  are  talked  over  whenever  a  few  of  us  get  together,  and 
though  there  are  not  many  other  things  that  we  do  know, 
you  will  scarcely  meet  a  Peruvian  who  could  not  talk  with 


AN    INDIAN    GUIDE  303 

you  for  hours  about  the  lost  treasure  and  the  lost  gold-mines 
of  the  Incas. 

"  There  are  many  places  that  I  know  of  where  the  sand  is 
rich  enough  to  pay  well  for  washing,  but  they  are  all  far 
away  from  habitations.  A  man  would  have  to  carry  his 
stores  and  provisions  and  tools  with  him ;  and  then,  it  is 
hard  work,  and  a  Peruvian  does  not  care  for  hard  work.  As 
to  the  natives,  there  would  be  no  keeping  them  at  it,  they 
would  desert  and  run  away  at  once ;  for  not  only  do  they 
hate  work,  but,  above  all  things,  they  hate  to  work  for  gold. 
They  look  upon  gold  as  an  accursed  thing,  which  brought 
about  the  conquest  of  the  country  by  the  Spaniards,  and  the 
centuries  of  oppression  that  have  befallen  their  race ;  and 
even  should  a  native  alight  upon  a  rich  spot  he  would  go 
away  and  never  say  a  word  about  it,  fearing  that  if  he  did, 
all  sorts  of  trouble  would  fall  upon  him. ' ' 

"  Pita  is  a  fine-looking  Indian,  Gomez." 

"  Yes,  senor ;  he  is  a  mixture,  that  is,  he  is  of  pure  Indian 
blood,  but  he  belongs  to  two  tribes.  His  father  was  a  native 
of  one  of  the  villages  highest  up  among  the  hills.  He  too 
was  a  hunter  and  guide.  In  one  of  his  journeys  down  in  the 
plain  country  he  married  the  daughter  of  one  of  the  chiefs  of 
the  wild  Indians,  and  Pita  was  their  son.  I  don't  know 
which  tribe  it  was  that  his  mother  belonged  to,  but  I  know 
that  they  lived  in  the  forests  on  one  of  the  greater  rivers. 
Pita  is  not  one  who  talks  much  of  himself,  or  who  talks  much 
at  all,  but  I  know  that  he  has  the  reputation  of  being  one  of 
the  most  daring  hunters  and  guides  in  the  country,  and  that 
he  has  gone  through  many  adventures  while  travelling  with 
traders.  He  has  always  been  trustworthy  and  faithful  to  his 
employers.  As  he  says,  he  cannot  promise  to  take  you  safely 
down  the  Madeira,  but  if  any  man  can  do  it,  he  will." 

Half  an  hour  later  they  returned  to  the   hut,  where    the 


30'i  WITH    COCHRANE    THE    DAUNTLESS 

Indian  was  sitting  in  precisely  the  same  attitude  in  which  they 
had  left  him. 

"  Well,  Pita,  have  you  arrived  at  a  conclusion?  "  Gomez 
asked. 

"  I  have  thought  it  over,"  he  said,  "  and  I  calculate  that  it 
may  be  a  year  before  I  return,  and  the  risk  is  great.  Can  the 
senor  afford  to  pay  three  hundred  and  sixty -five  dollars? 
That  is  for  the  services  of  myself  and  my  comrade.  He  has 
no  wife  or  family,  and  will  therefore  need  less  pay  than  I, 
who  will  have  to  leave  money  behind  for  mine.  The  senor 
will  be  at  no  other  expense  until  he  arrives  at  Barra,  except 
for  such  things  as  tea  and  sugar,  and  any  liquor  he  may  wish 
to  put  on  board  at  starting.  If  the  senor  cannot  afford  that,  I 
will  guide  him  down  along  by  the  foot  of  the  mountains  until 
we  can  cross  over  into  Chili.  It  will  be  an  arduous  journey, 
but  without  perils,  and  we  shall  pass  through  few  villages." 

"  How  long  will  that  take,  Pita  ?  " 

"It  would  be  a  long  journey,  senor.  As  a  bird  flies  it 
would  be  seven  or  eight  hundred  miles ;  but  winding  round 
the  foot  of  the  hills  it  would  be  two  thousand." 

"  I  would  rather  try  the  other,  Pita,"  Stephen  replied ;  for 
the  thought  of  the  passage  by  water  through  unknown  forests, 
and  then  down  the  Amazon,  exercised  a  strong  fascination 
over  him,  and  the  idea  of  a  toilsome  journey  of  two  thousand 
miles  was  the  reverse  of  attractive.  The  war  was,  he  was 
sure,  nearly  over.  He  might  arrive  in  Chili  only  to  find  that 
the  admiral  had  gone  away ;  and  even  when  he  reached  the 
frontier  he  had  another  journey  to  make  before  he  reached 
Valparaiso,  whereas  when  he  arrived  at  Para  he  could  sail 
direct  for  England. 

' '  I  could  afford  to  pay  you  the  terms  you  ask, ' '  he  went 
on,  "  and  shall  still  have  enough  left  to  take  me  from  Barra 
home. ' ' 


AN    INDIAN    GUIDE  305 

"Then,  so  be  it,"  the  Indian  said;  "  to-morrow  we  will 
start  for  Paucartambo,  which  lies  but  a  few  miles  from  the 
Mayutata.  We  shall  pass  through  Cuzco  on  our  way.  You 
have  arms,  I  see,  senor?  " 

"  Yes,  and  some  ammunition,  but  I  shall  want  a  larger  sup- 
ply before  we  start. ' ' 

At  daybreak  next  morning  they  set  out,  the  Indian  walking 
ahead.  Once  or  twice  Stephen  pushed  his  mule  forward  to 
endeavour  to  enter  into  conversation,  but  he  could  get  but 
few  words  from  him,  and  had  to  drop  back  to  Gomez,  who 
was  willing  enough  to  talk. 

"  It  is  no  use  trying  to  get  anything  out  of  Pita,  senor.  If 
you  can  get  him  in  the  mood  by  a  camp  fire,  he  may  tell  you 
some  of  his  adventures ;  but  the  natives  are  not  given  to  talk- 
ing overmuch,  and  Pita,  when  he  is  once  on  his  way  as  guide, 
will  go  on  without  saying  a  word  for  hours.  I  have  made 
several  journeys  with  him,  and  it  is  always  the  same.  Of 
course  there  is  nothing  for  him  to  look  after  here,  but  it  is  a 
sort  of  habit.  I  have  no  doubt  that  he  could  tell  you  how 
many  birds  have  crossed  the  road  to-day.  He  has  noticed 
every  lizard,  could  tell  you  where  a  mule  belonging  to  the  last 
party  has  made  a  false  step,  how  many  there  were  travelling 
together,  and  all  about  them.  He  takes  it  all  in  j  and  though 
here  it  might  just  as  well  be  left  alone,  this  watchfulness  might 
save  your  life  afterwards." 

Day  after  day  they  journeyed  on.  Stephen  did  not  enter 
Cuzco.  As  the  capital  of  the  Incas  he  felt  an  interest  in  it, 
but  cared  little  for  it  as  a  great  Spanish  town  whose  glory  had 
almost  departed  ;  and  it  was  not  worth  running  any  risk  when 
nothing  was  to  be  gained  by  visiting  it.  He  therefore  re- 
mained at  Pita's  Indian  hut  a  few  miles  away,  while 
Gomez  went  into  the  town  with  the  guide  to  get  the  stores 
they  required.  Pita's  comrade  returned  with  them.  Stephen 


306  WITH    COCHRANE    THE    DAUNTLESS 

was  greatly  surprised  at  the  man's  appearance.  Pita  himself 
was,  for  an  Indian,  tall  ;  he  was  spare  in  frame,  but  very 
sinewy;  his  muscles  stood  up  beneath  the  brown  skin  like 
cords.  Hurka  was  so  short  that  he  was  almost  a  dwarf,  and, 
save  for  his  face,  he  might  have  been  taken  for  a  boy  of  four- 
teen. He  possessed  none  of  Pita's  gravity,  but  was  soon 
laughing  and  chatting  with  the  Indian's  wife  and  children, 
and  was  evidently  a  special  favourite  with  them.  His  face  was 
bright  and  intelligent. 

"You  would  not  think,  senor,"  Gomez  said  as,  after  tell- 
ing him  what  they  had  purchased  in  the  city,  he  stood  watch- 
ing Hurka,  who  was  running  backwards  and  forwards  between 
the  hut  and  the  mules,  carrying  in  packages,  "  that  that  little 
chap  is  one  of  the  best  guides  on  this  side  of  the  Andes.  He 
and  Pita  are,  I  should  say,  the  two  best ;  and  whenever  they 
can,  they  work  together.  He  is  a  wonderful  shot  —  better 
than  Pita.  He  can  swim  like  a  fish  ;  and  he  does  not  seem  to 
know  what  fatigue  is.  He  and  Pita  are  like  brothers,  although 
they  are  so  different  in  their  ways ;  and  it  is  wonderful  to  see 
how  they  get  on  together.  I  would  not  mind  where  I  went 
with  them,  for  they  can  find  their  way  through  the  thickest 
forest,  and  are  up  to  every  device  that  can  be  useful  to  trav- 
ellers. I  have  never  heard  of  their  losing  anyone  under  their 
charge,  except,  of  course,  from  disease  and  heat,  and  perhaps 
a  few  shot  by  Indians.  That  is  a  thing  that  may  always  hap- 
pen, there  is  no  guarding  against  it — especially  when  you  have 
got  men  with  you  who  will  go  their  own  way,  and  make 
light  of  any  idea  of  taking  precautions.  Sometimes  they  have 
had  to  fall  back  altogether  when  they  have  been  with  gold  or 
treasure  seekers,  but  never  when  they  were  with  trading  parties. 

"In  the  forest  country  the  natives  are  generally  ready 
enough  to  trade,  but  there  are  parts  where  they  never  allow  a 
white  party  to  penetrate.  Whether  it  is  that  there  is  really  a 


AN    INDIAN    GUIDE  307 

treasure,  or  an  extraordinary  rich  gold-mine,  or  whether  it  is 
only  that  in  some  sections  the  tribes  are  more  hostile  than  in 
others,  no  one  knows  for  certain,  but  there  is  no  doubt  that 
when  any  party  approaches  certain  localities  troubles  begin 
directly.  As  they  go  through  the  forest,  arrows  come  flying 
thick  through  the  tangle  of  creepers,  and  poisoned  darts  from 
blow-pipes.  The  foes  are  invisible,  but  they  make  themselves 
felt,  and  it  soon  breaks  down  the  courage  of  the  bravest  to  be 
shot  at  when  you  never  get  a  chance  of  shooting  back  in  re- 
turn. Both  Pita  and  Hurka  have  been  with  parties  that  have 
been  attacked  and  forced  to  fall  back ;  but  it  has  not  been 
their  fault,  for  they  always  warn  those  who  employ  them  that 
the  dangers  are  too  great  to  be  overcome.  Still,  men  who 
think  that  they  have  got  a  clue  to  hidden  wealth  always  seem 
to  consider  that  their  guides  are  interested  in  preventing  their 
getting  it,  and  will  listen  to  no  advice  till  they  find  out  for 
themselves  that  the  danger  has  not  been  exaggerated,  and  that 
it  is  certain  death  to  push  on  further." 

"  I  wonder  that  neither  of  them  has  been  killed,"  Stephen 
said. 

"  It  is  a  wonder,  senor,  and  some  have  even  declared  that 
they  must  be  in  league  with  the  Indians ;  but  it  is  due  to 
their  understanding  the  native  way  of  fighting.  While  white 
men  stand  up  and  fire  away  into  the  bush,  they  quickly  throw 
themselves  down  behind  the  trunk  of  a  tree,  and  then  crawl 
into  the  forest  and  fight  in  the  same  way  as  the  Indians  do ; 
and  they  say  that  more  than  once  those  two  alone  have  made 
the  natives  fall  back,  and  so  enabled  the  whites  to  retreat. 
You  will  see  that  they  will  both  take  bows  and  arrows  with 
them ;  and  though  they  would  use  their  rifles  if  openly 
attacked,  in  these  battles  in  the  forests,  or  when  hunting  in 
dangerous  neighbourhoods,  they  use  their  bows  in  preference 
to  the  rifles." 


308  WITH    COCHRANE    THE    DAUNTLESS 

The  next  day  the  journey  was  continued,  and  in  ten  days 
they  reached  a  stream  which,  as  the  Indians  told  Stephen,  ran 
into  the  Beni,  one  of  the  principal  feeders  of  the  Madeira. 
Here  was  a  village  occupied  wholly  by  Indians  and  half-castes. 
A  large  canoe  was  purchased,  and  the  loads  of  the  two  mules 
stowed  in  it,  a  store  of  bread  and  fruit  was  obtained  from  the 
natives,  together  with  ten  skins  sewn  up  as  bags,  and  intended 
to  be  inflated  and  used  for  the  construction  of  a  raft.  Two 
days  were  spent  in  making  their  preparations,  and  then  Stephen 
took  leave  of  Gomez,  to  whom  he  gave  a  handsome  present,  in 
addition  to  the  sum  that  had  been  agreed  upon.  By  this  time 
Stephen  had  come  to  appreciate  the  good  qualities  of  Hurka, 
whose  unfailingly  good  temper  and  gaiety  had  lightened  the 
journey,  and  whose  humorous  stories  of  his  adventures,  and 
of  the  obstinacy  and  folly  of  his  employers,  raised  a  smile 
even  on  the  impassive  face  of  Pita. 

Stephen  was  delighted  when  the  canoe  pushed  out  into  the 
stream,  and  they  began  their  journey  down  the  thousands  of 
miles  of  river  that  had  to  be  traversed  before  they  reached  the 
eastern  sea-coast.  Pita  sat  in  the  stern  of  the  canoe,  Hurka 
in  the  bow,  while  Stephen  had  a  comfortable  seat  in  the 
middle,  separated  from  them  by  two  piles  of  stores  and 
provisions.  Over  him  was  a  roof  of  green  boughs,  supported 
by  four  poles,  connected  by  others,  to  which  a  thin  curtain  of 
cotton-stuff  was  attached.  It  was  all  made  in  one  piece,  and 
was  rolled  up  in  the  daytime  to  allow  the  passage  of  air,  but 
at  night  could  be  dropped  all  round  so  as  to  form  a  protection 
against  insects  and  the  vapours  from  the  water.  The  tent 
was  large  enough  for  the  three  men  to  sleep  in  comfortably  ; 
and  in  the  centre  was  a  small  stove,  in  which  fire  was  kept 
burning  for  cooking  purposes  in  the  daytime,  and  to  counter- 
act the  dampness  of  the  air  at  night.  As  soon  as  it  was  dark, 
and  the  insects  became  troublesome,  the  Indians  threw  on  the 


AN    INDIAN   GUIDE  309 

fire  branches  that  they  cut  fresh  every  day  from  shrubs  grow- 
ing on  the  banks.  This  caused  a  pungent  odour  which  effect- 
ually prevented  insects  from  making  their  way  in  through  the 
leafy  roof. 

During  the  daytime  the  canoe  was  generally  kept  close  to 
one  shore  or  the  other,  so  as  to  be  under  the  shade  of  the 
overhanging  forest  trees  ;  at  night  they  sometimes  tied  up  to 
a  tree,  but  more  often  one  or  other  of  the  Indians  sat  in  the 
stern  of  the  boat  giving  an  occasional  stroke  with  his  paddle 
to  keep  her  drifting  down  in  the  centre  of  the  current.  While 
it  was  light  they  always  had  their  guns  close  at  hand,  and 
sometimes  brought  down  a  bird  from  the  trees  overhead. 
Baited  hooks  on  a  long  line  were  towed  astern.  They  seldom 
caught  anything  during  the  day,  but  at  night  they  frequently 
captured  a  few  fish.  This,  however,  was  more  often  done  by 
spearing  them,  the  Indians  having  bought  spears  for  the  pur- 
pose at  the  village.  On  these  occasions  Stephen  took  his  place 
in  the  bow  with  two  lighted  torches  of  resinous  wood  ;  the 
light  attracted  the  fish,  which  were  speared  by  the  Indians, 
who  seldom  missed  striking  them,  however  far  beneath  the 
surface,  though  Stephen  failed  even  to  catch  sight  of  them. 

The  fish  formed  the  main  staple  of  their  food,  helped  out  by 
the  birds,  which  were,  for  the  most  part,  of  the  pigeon  tribe, 
though  larger  and  differing  much  in  plumage  from  the  English 
species.  They  had  brought  from  Cuzco  a  hundred  pounds  of 
flour,  which  was  sewed  up  in  two  skins,  so  that  in  case  of  a 
misfortune  to  the  canoe  it  would  be  uninjured  by  water. 
From  this  the  Indians  made  flat  cakes,  which  were  an  excellent 
substitute  for  bread. 

For  the  first  ten  days  Hurka  while  paddling  generally  sung 
Spanish  songs  that  he  had  picked  up,  but  gradually  he  ceased 
doing  so,  and  became  as  taciturn  as  Pita  himself. 

"  The  Indians  on  this  part  of  the  river,"  he  told  Stephen, 


310  WITH    COCHRANE   THE   DAUNTLESS 

"are  generally  of  a  peaceful  nature,  and  are  quite  willing  to 
trade,  but,  as  we  have  no  merchandise,  they  would  look  upon 
us  with  some  suspicion  ;  and,  moreover,  the  tribes  are  often  at 
war  with  each  other,  and  in  that  case  it  is  always  better  that 
travellers  should  avoid  them.  Consequently  it  is  better  to 
travel  silently." 

For  the  same  reason  they  generally  timed  themselves  so  as 
to  pass  the  Indian  villages  at  night,  the  fire  on  such  occasions 
being  kept  very  low,  and  ashes  being  drawn  up  over  the  em- 
bers so  as  to  completely  extinguish  the  light  until  the  village 
was  well  behind  them.  Shooting  was,  for  the  time,  entirely 
given  up. 


CHAPTER   XVII 

DOWN     THE    RIVER 

THE  time  passed  pleasantly  to  Stephen  as  he  reclined  on  a 
heap  of  skins  and  blankets  watching  the  forests  that 
bordered  the  stream,  or  looking  up  through  the  overhanging 
canopy  at  the  birds  and  monkeys,  the  latter  of  which  afforded 
him  great  amusement  by  the  way  in  which  they  chattered  and 
gesticulated.  The  mothers  with  the  little  ones  climbed  to 
the  top  of  the  trees,  while  the  males"  came  boldly  out  on  the 
lower  branches  to  bid  defiance  to  those  in  the  boat.  Often 
he  slept,  for  the  heat,  and  the  almost  noiseless  fall  of  the 
paddles,  and  the  tranquil  easy  motion  of  the  canoe  made  him 
exceptionally  drowsy.  One  day  his  eye  fell  upon  something 
on  a  large  branch  of  a  tree  that  bent  down  to  within  twelve 
feet  of  the  water.  It  was  only  some  ten  yards  ahead  when  he 
noticed  it.  It  was  partly  hidden  by  foliage,  and  for  a  mo- 


'THE  ANIMAL  WAS   ON  THE  POINT  OF  SPRINGING  WHEN  STEPHEN 
FIRED." 


DOWN    THE    RIVER  311 

ment  it  seemed  to  him  to  be  a  thickening  of  the  branch.  He 
would  have  passed  it  without  a  thought  had  it  not  been  for  a 
slight  movement  ;  then  a  glance  showed  him  that  it  was  an 
animal  of  some  kind  lying  almost  flattened  upon  the  tree. 

He  caught  up  his  rifle  just  as  it  rose  to  a  crouching  attitude, 
and  was  upon  the  point  of  springing  upon  Pita.  The  gun  was 
loaded  with  shot  only,  but  as  he  threw  up  the  muzzle  and 
fired  almost  instantly,  the  beast  gave  a  terrible  roar.  Its 
spring  was  arrested,  and  it  fell  headlong  into  the  water  within 
a  foot  of  the  side  of  the  boat.  A  tawny  head,  with  two  rows 
of  big  white  teeth,  arose  from  the  water  almost  abreast  of  him, 
and  a  great  paw  was  raised  to  strike  at  the  boat,  but  Hurka's 
rifle  cracked  out,  and  the  animal  sank  again  below  the  water. 

"  You  have  saved  my  life,  sefior,"  Pita  said  gravely.  "  It 
was  a  jaguar,  and  had  you  not  fired  it  would  have  struck  me 
down  and  crushed  in  my  skull  with  a  blow  of  its  paw.  I 
wonder  I  did  not  see  it,  but  I  was  thinking  at  the  time  that 
we  had  best  tie  up  for  an  hour  or  two  so  as  to  pass  the  next 
village,  which  is  a  large  one,  after  dark." 

"  It  was  almost  hidden  among  those  leaves,"  Stephen  said, 
"  and  had  it  not  moved  I  should  not  have  noticed  it." 

"  I  think  you  blinded  it,  sefior,"  Hurka  said.  "  I  saw  it 
rise  to  spring,  and  snatched  at  my  rifle  just  as  you  fired.  I 
think  the  charge  struck  it  between  the  eyes,  for  I  saw  a  sort  of 
blur  there  just  as  it  fell.  I  should  have  been  too  late ;  for 
though  I  might  have  hit  it  as  it  was  in  the  air,  it  would 
assuredly  have  come  down  on  Pita. 

"  It  was  not  like  you,  Pita.  This  comes  of  thinking  while 
you  are  paddling  instead  of  keeping  your  eyes  on  everything." 

"  I  was  wrong,"  the  Indian  replied.  "I  should  have  known 
that  an  attack  by  a  jaguar  was  always  possible  ;  but  this  is  the 
first  that  we  have  seen  since  starting,  and  I  had  no  thought 
of  danger  in  my  mind.  I  will  be  more  careful  in  the  future. 


312  WITH   COCHRANE   THE   DAUNTLESS 

It  must  have  been  well  hidden,  for  you  did  not  see  it  your- 
self, Hurka,  until  it  moved  for  its  spring." 

"  That  is  true,"  the  little  Indian  replied.  "  The  English- 
man's eyes  must  be  quick  indeed,  and  his  nerve  steady.  It 
was  seeing  him  catch  up  his  gun  that  first  called  my  attention 
to  it.  You  have  laid  us  both  under  a  great  obligation,  senor, 
for  Pita  is  my  best  friend,  and  were  aught  to  befall  him  I 
should  feel  that  I  had  lost  part  of  myself.  Perhaps  before  the 
journey  comes  to  an  end  we  may  be  able  to  show  you  how 
grateful  we  are." 

"It  is  nothing  worth  talking  about,"  Stephen  said.  "In 
a  journey  like  this,  comrades  may  well  save  each  other's  lives 
more  than  once." 

"  That  is  true,  senor ;  but  it  is  our  duty  to  save  your  life  if 
need  be,  and  it  is  turning  the  tables  upon  us  for  you  to  be  the 
means  of  saving  ours.  However,  you  will  not  find  us  lacking 
when  the  time  comes.  Already  we  have  agreed  that  this  time 
of  all  others  we  must  carry  our  business  through  successfully. 
You  are  not  like  these  Spaniards.  To  them  we  are  Indian 
dogs,  mere  dust  under  their  feet,  a  people  whose  services  they 
buy  as  they  buy  those  of  our  mules ;  but  you  have  treated  us 
as  if  we  had  been  comrades  of  the  same  colour  as  you  yourself, 
have  insisted  upon  our  eating  with  you,  and  have  talked  with 
us  as  if  we  were  friends  together ;  and  you  will  find  that  it  is 
so  if  danger  arises.  We  Indians  are  not  accustomed  to  kind- 
ness or  consideration  from  our  Spanish  masters.  Could  they 
do  without  us  they  would  not  suffer  an  Indian  to  exist  in  the 
land ;  but  they  need  our  labour,  and  so  bear  with  us.  But 
we,  on  our  part,  never  forget  that  our  ancestors  were  lords  of 
this  country,  that  they  received  these  white  strangers  with 
kindness,  and  were  repaid  by  the  grossest  treachery  and  in- 
gratitude, and  that,  not  contented  with  seizing  our  land  and 
our  possessions,  they  murdered  all  our  princes  and  leaders, 


DOWN    THE    RIVER  313 

and  reduced  all  whom  they  did  not  slay  to  slavery,  keeping 
us  only  that  we  might  work  the  mines  and  till  the  fields  for 
them. 

"  Centuries  have  passed  since  then,  but  there  has  been  no 
change;  they  are  still  our  masters,  we  their  beasts  of  burden. 
They  may  pay  us  for  our  services,  but  they  have  no  thought 
or  consideration  for  us.  We  may  risk  our  lives  for  them,  but 
they  value  ours  no  more  than  if  we  were  dogs.  Save  among 
the  muleteers,  Jike  Gomez,  who  long  ago  ceased  to  be  Span- 
iards, and  are  now  Peruvians,  they  look  upon  us  as  a  con- 
quered race,  and  as  to  friendship  or  a  kindly  thought  for  an 
Indian,  they  think  more  of  their  dogs  than  they  do  of  us. 
Therefore,  sefior,  you  may  guess  that  Pita  and  I  do  not  feel 
towards  you  only  as  a  master  who  pays  us,  but  as  one  who  has 
treated  us  as  if  we  were  the  same  colour  as  himself,  and  even 
the  service  you  have  rendered  Pita  binds  us  less  to  you  than  the 
kindness  that  you  have  shown  us.  If  all  Englishmen  are  like 
you  it  would  be  a  blessing  indeed  to  this  country  if,  after  your 
famous  admiral  had  driven  out  the  Spaniards,  he  would  him- 
self reign  over  the  land  and  bring  some  of  his  people  here  to 
govern  us. 

"The  white  Peruvians  are  no  better  than  the  Spaniards. 
They  are  the  same  blood,  and  have  the  same  ideas,  and  save 
that  they  are  cowards,  while  the  Spaniards,  to  do  them  justice, 
are  often  brave,  there  is  little  to  choose  between  them.  They 
are  as  proud  of  their  white  blood,  and  they  despise  us  as 
heartily ;  they  are  as  greedy  of  gold,  but  too  indolent  to  work 
for  it ;  and  when  the  Spaniards  have  gone  they  will  be  despots 
as  hard  and  as  tyrannical  as  our  present  governors.  We  hope 
for  the  change,  though  we  know  well  that  it  will  do  but  little 
for  us ;  while,  if  the  people  of  your  race  came  as  masters  of 
the  land,  we  might  have  some  share  of  freedom  and  happi- 
ness. Tales  have  reached  even  us  that  across  the  western 


314  WITH    COCHRANE    THE    DAUNTLESS 

ocean  you  rule  over  a  people  dark  like  ourselves,  but  infinitely 
more  numerous  than  we  were  when  the  Spaniards  first  set  foot 
here ;  and  that  your  rule  is  a  good  and  just  one,  and  that  the 
natives  are  happy  and  contented,  and  that  there  are  the  same 
laws  for  them  as  for  us.  Do  you  think,  senor,  that  there  is 
any  chance  of  your  admiral  and  your  people  coming  here?  " 

"  I  am  afraid  not,  Hurka.  We  English  here  are  in  the 
service  of  Chili.  We  are  free  ourselves,  and  our  sympathies 
are  with  all  men  who  are  struggling  to  be  free ;  but  we  have 
no  idea  of  conquest  here,  and  were  Peru  to  offer  to  come 
under  our  rule  we  should  not  accept  it.  We  have  already  wide 
possessions  in  North  America  and  elsewhere,  and  need  no  fur- 
ther territories,  especially  in  a  climate  that  is  unfitted  for  us. 
We  might  rule  it  as  we  do  India,  but  the  Peruvians  would 
never  be  contented,  and  we  should  never  attempt  to  keep 
them  in  subjection  did  they  wish  us  gone.  India,  the  country 
you  speak  of,  is  inhabited  by  many  races  and  religions.  Be- 
fore we  went,  there  were  incessant  wars,  and  were  we  to  leave 
they  would  at  once  recommence.  The  people,  then,  feel  that 
our  rule  is  a  real  benefit,  and  that  they  are  far  happier  under 
it  than  they  were  under  their  native  rulers.  When  we  went 
there  we  had  no  thought  of  conquering  it ;  we  only  went  there 
to  trade.  It  was  because  we  were  attacked  that  we  defended 
ourselves,  and  there  are  still  portions  of  the  country  that  are 
altogether  independent,  and  so  long  as  the  native  sovereigns 
leave  us  alone  we  are  well  contented  that  things  should  remain 
as  they  are.  We  do  not  enrich  ourselves  at  the  expense  of 
the  natives.  They  have  to  pay  taxes  to  keep  up  the  expenses 
of  the  army  and  administration  there,  but  England  draws  no 
revenue  from  India.  It  does  not,  as  Spain  did,  enrich  itself 
with  the  plunder  of  the  land ;  and  it  is  free  to  people  of  all 
nations  to  trade  there  as  we  do  ourselves.  Individuals  may 
gain  wealth  there  by  commerce,  or  by  the  growth  of  indigo 


DOWN   THE   RIVER  315 

and  other  things  that  we  cannot  raise  at  home,  but  as  a  nation 
we  obtain  no  revenue  whatever  from  India.  The  army  there 
is  for  the  most  part  raised  from  the  people,  who  are  free  to 
enlist  or  not  as  they  please,  and  who  fight  as  faithfully  for  us 
as  they  would  have  done  for  their  own  rulers." 

"  Then  what  do  you  gain  by  being  there  ?  "  Hurka  asked. 

' '  We  gain  in  the  trade  that  is  carried  on  by  our  merchants 
selling  English  goods  there,  and  buying  Indian  produce.  The 
army  and  the  civil  government  furnish  employment  to  large 
numbers  of  Englishmen.  These  are  the  only  material  advan- 
tages that,  so  far  as  I  know,  we  gain ;  although  of  course  it  is 
a  matter  of  pride  and  satisfaction  to  Englishmen  that  they 
rule  over  so  great  a  country,  and  that  our  presence  there  is  of 
enormous  advantage  to  the  people." 

"And  are  there  no  gold  or  silver  mines  there  ?  "  Pita  asked. 

"  No ;  at  any  rate  nothing  that  has  been  worked  since  we 
went  there." 

"Ah,  if  you  would  but  come  here,"  Hurka  exclaimed, 
"  what  a  blessing  it  would  be  to  us  !  and  I  am  sure  that  the 
Indians,  when  they  knew  that  they  would  be  fairly  treated, 
would  no  longer  preserve  the  secrets  of  the  Incas,  but  would 
gladly  open  to  you  mines  that  have  been  hidden  ever  since  the 
Spaniards  came,  and  hand  over  vast  treasures  that  have  been 
left  untouched  all  these  years.  They  are  useless  to  them, 
and  are  hidden  only  because  they  hate  the  Spaniards,  and 
know  that  did  they  discover  these  mines  they  would  compel 
the  people  to  work  at  them  as  their  fathers  did ;  and  ere  long 
we  should  disappear  altogether." 

While  they  had  been  talking  they  had  floated  quietly  down 
the  stream,  and  Pita  said  that  they  were  now  but  a  few  miles 
from  the  next  village,  and  had  better  tie  up  until  darkness 
came  on. 

"Have  you  any  desire  for  gold,  seiior  ?  "   Hurka*  asked. 


316  WITH    COCHRANE    THE    DAUNTLESS 

after  they  had  secured  the  canoe  to  an  overhanging  branch, 
and  the  two  Indians  had  rolled  and  lighted  their  cigarettes. 

"  Not  particularly,  Hurka.  I  suppose  everyone  would  like 
gold ;  but  I  have  already  enough  to  live  upon,  having  been 
very  fortunate  in  aiding  to  capture  a  vessel  carrying  a  large 
sum  for  the  payment  of  the  Spanish  troops.  If  I  were  to 
search  for  gold  it  would  be  rather  for  the  sake  of  the  advent- 
ure than  for  the  treasure. ' ' 

' '  You  are  the  first  white  man  I  have  ever  met,  senor,  who 
would  not  undertake  any  risk  in  order  to  gain  a  fortune,  and 
the  richest  are  as  ready  to  adventure  their  gold  in  any  enter- 
prise that  promises  even  a  chance  of  success,  as  the  poorest 
are  willing  to  risk  their  lives." 

"  The  adventure  itself  would  be  very  exciting,"  Stephen 
said,  "  and  I  do  not  say  that  I  should  not  like  to  take  part  in 
one,  just  as  I  am  glad  to  have  the  chance  of  such  an  adventure 
as  going  down  the  Amazon  ;  but  it  would  certainly  be  the 
excitement,  and  not  the  chance  of  making  money,  that  would 
attract  me.  I  don't  say  for  a  moment  that  I  should  refuse  a 
share  in  the  treasure,  only  that  I  would  not  run  any  great 
risks  for  the  sake  of  the  treasure  alone.  I  suppose  that  every 
one  could  do  with  more  than  he  has ;  for  even  if  you  have 
nothing  to  wish  for,  it  would  at  least  be  a  pleasure  to  give  it 
away. 

"  I  have  been  fortunate,  although  I  am  still  very  young. 
I  have  been  through  a  great  many  adventures,  and  if  I  were 
to  settle  quietly  down  at  home  now,  I  have  more  to  look  back 
upon  than  most  men." 

Day  after  day  they  floated  down,  sometimes  on  a  broad 
tranquil  sheet  with  a  scarce  perceptible  current,  and  at  others 
in  a  rapid  headlong  stream  pent  up  between  narrow  banks. 
The  volume  of  water  had  vastly  increased  since  they  started, 
owing  to  the  number  of  streams  that  had  flowed  into  the 


DOWN    THE    RIVER  317 

Beni,  some  of  these  being  so  large  that  they  would  be  con- 
sidered good-sized  rivers  in  Europe.  At  last,  a  month  after 
starting,  Hurka  said  that  next  day  they  would  reach  the  con- 
fluence of  the  Beni  and  the  Madeira. 

"  There  is  a  mission-station  there,  and  if  the  senor  likes  to 
pause  there  for  a  day  or  two  before  descending  the  river  he 
can  do  so." 

"  Not  at  all,  Hurka.  In  the  first  place,  I  shall  be  asked  a 
great  many  questions  which  would  be  difficult  to  answer,  and 
in  the  second,  even  two  days  in  a  mission-station  would  be 
frightfully  dull." 

"  Very  well,  senor,  then  we  will  pass  straight  into  the  river 
and  halt  a  few  hours'  journey  further  down." 

"  Why  should  we  halt  at  all?  " 

"  We  shall  want  to  construct  a  raft,  senor.  There  are 
many  dangerous  rapids  in  the  Madeira  besides  the  falls,  and 
the  river  is  beginning  to  rise.  You  were  noticing  yesterday 
how  thick  the  water  had  become,  and  some  of  the  streams 
that  run  into  it  are  laden  with  mud.  That  shows  that  the 
rain  has  begun  on  the  western  slopes.  The  Madeira  is  gen- 
erally in  flood  two  days  before  the  Beni,  and  the  water  will 
be  running  down  in  a  great  stream;  therefore  it  will  be  neces- 
sary to  make  our  raft.  We  need  not  desert  the  canoe,  but 
can  let  it  float  alongside  of  us,  or  we  can  haul  it  on  to  the 
raft ;  it  will  be  convenient  for  sleeping  in." 

"  We  had  better  land  at  once  and  make  our  raft,"  Pita 
said,  "  before  we  reach  the  Madeira.  I  know  of  no  high  bank 
for  a  very  long  distance  after  we  have  entered  the  great  river 
where  we  could  manage  it." 

"  Then  by  all  means  let  us  do  so  at  once,"  Stephen  said, 
"  and  perhaps  we  may  get  some  sport." 

Accordingly  the  boat  was  headed  towards  shore.  When 
they  reached  the  side  they  found  that  the  Beni  itself  had  risen, 


318  WITH    COCHRANE    THE    DAUNTLESS 

and  the  bank,  usually  seven  or  eight  feet  out  of  water,  was 
now  little  more  than  a  foot  above  its  level. 

"You  may  get  some  birds,"  Hurka  said,  "but  nothing 
else.  The  instinct  of  the  beasts  tells  them  that  the  river  is 
nearly  full,  and  doubtless  indeed  the  low-lying  parts  of  the 
forest  are  already  submerged.  They  will  be  off  before  this, 
and  will  travel  on  till  they  come  to  ground  that  is  always 
above  the  floods.  Some  will,  doubtless,  be  caught  and  per- 
ish. Such  as  climb  will  take  to  trees,  but  hunger  will  de- 
stroy them." 

"  How  far  do  the  floods  extend? " 

"In  some  places  a  hundred  miles,  and  on  the  Amazon 
itself,  as  I  have  heard,  a  great  deal  further." 

They  paddled  along  close  to  the  bank  until  they  reached  a 
spot  where  it  was  bordered  by  a  vast  number  of  reeds,  many 
of  them  as  thick  as  Stephen's  arm. 

"  Now  we  are  going  to  make  our  raft,"  Hurka  said. 
"  These  reeds  are  far  better  than  solid  branches.  They  are 
very  light,  and  we  fasten  them  but  loosely  together,  so  that 
they  can  give  to  the  water.  When  we  have  made  it,  we  shall 
then  want  four  young  saplings.  These  we  shall  lash  together 
firmly  in  a  square,  and  under  each  corner  we  fasten  the  skins, 
and  one  also  in  the  middle  of  each  pole ;  you  know  we  have 
brought  eight  with  us.  First  we  make  the  raft  itself  with  the 
rushes.  It  is  made  about  four  feet  larger  each  way  than  the 
frame  with  the  skins.  This  frame  is  laid  on  the  raft,  and  is 
fastened  loosely  to  it.  Thus  you  see  the  raft  itself  is  complete 
without  the  poles  and  skins,  which,  so  long  as  it  holds  to- 
gether, simply  rest  in  it,  but  if  the  raft  gets  broken  up  the 
skins  will  support  the  poles.  We  generally  lash  a  few  cross 
poles  to  the  frame,  and  on  these  we  sit,  for  the  water  splashes 
up  between  the  reeds,  making  everything  wet.  As  we  are 
going  to  take  our  canoe  with  us,  we  shall  not  want  the  cross 


DOWN    THE    RIVER  319 

poles,  but  shall  lay  her  on  the  reeds  and  get  on  board  her. 
We  shall  pick  out  the  largest  reeds  we  can  get  to  place  under 
the  spot  where  she  will  lie,  and  shall  only  get  out  of  the  boat 
when  it  is  necessary  to  go  to  the  front  or  sides  of  the  raft  to 
pole  her  off  from  any  floating  tree  or  other  danger." 

It  took  them  two  days  to  complete  the  raft,  the  second 
day's  work  being  carried  on  afloat,  for  the  stream  rose  very 
rapidly.  The  lashings  of  the  reeds  were  of  leather  thongs,  so 
tied  that  while  they  were  held  firmly  in  their  places  there  was 
„  great  deal  of  play,  an  advantage  that  Stephen  discovered  as 
soon  as  they  were  afloat  again  on  the  stream.  The  rapidity 
with  which  the  river  was  running  raised  it  in  a  series  of  sharp 
waves,  and  a  rigid  raft  would  have  had  one  end  or  the  other 
constantly  immersed.  The  raft,  however,  undulated  with  the 
water  almost  as  a  carpet  of  the  same  size  would  have  done,  the 
lashings  of  the  buoyant  reeds  permitting  each  side  to  rise  and 
fall,  while  the  structure  upon  it  lifted  or  fell  with  the  motion. 
The  canoe  half  floated  and  was  half  supported  by  the  raft 
below  it,  and  Stephen  was  surprised  to  find  how  slight  the 
motion  was  even  in  the  broken  water.  Presently  the  two 
Indians  left  the  canoe,  and  seating  themselves  on  the  poles, 
paddled  towards  the  shore  to  the  left,  and  getting  out  of  the 
current  made  their  way  along  the  edge  of  the  forest. 

"We  are  close  now,"  Hurka  said,  "to  the  Madeira,  and 
the  struggle  of  the  two  swollen  rivers  will  raise  a  turmoil  so 
great  that  even  this  raft  might  break  up  in  the  waves." 

This  Stephen  could  well  believe  when  the  canoe  reached 
the  angle  where  the  rivers  joined.  The  width  was  nearly  two 
miles,  and  the  scene  presented  the  appearance  of  the  sea  in  a 
violent  gale,  except  that  it  was  a  chaos  without  order  or  regu- 
larity. The  cross  currents  seemed  to  crash  against  each  other, 
hurling  the  spray  many  yards  in  the  air.  Waves  leapt  up  in 
conical  form  as  if  lifted  bodily  from  below.  The  position  of 


320  WITH    COCHRANE    THE    DAUNTLESS 

the  centre  of  the  stream  changed  continually  as  one  current  or 
the  other  gained  the  mastery.  Here  and  there  were  whirl- 
pools and  eddies  that  would  have  engulfed  an  ordinary  boat 
in  a  moment.  The  whole  was  white  with  foam. 

"  It  is  like  a  huge  boiling  pot,"  Stephen  said  as  he  watched 
it. 

"No  boat  ever  made  could  live  in  it,"  Hurka  said.  "  I 
have  seen  boats  on  the  great  waves  that  break  on  the  coast, 
but  there  was  an  order  in  the  waves,  and  those  skilled  in  the 
work  could  wait  their  opportunity  and  come  in  on  the  top 
of  one  of  them.  Here  all  is  confusion,  and  a  boat  would  be 
thrown  into  the  air  by  one  of  those  suddenly  rising  lumps  of 
water,  and  if  caught  between  two  of  the  waves  would  be 
crushed  like  a  shell.  No  one  would  think  of  descending  the 
river  when  the  Beni  and  the  Madeira  are  in  flood,  except  by 
doing  as  we  are  doing  now,  keeping  in  the  dead-water,  or,  if 
in  canoes,  making  their  way  through  the  submerged  forest. 
But  even  this  would  be  hazardous  work,  for  the  canoe  might 
be  torn  by  unseen  boughs  below  the  surface  of  the  water. 
Therefore  at  times  like  these,  most  men  wait  until  the  floods 
have  abated,  unless  they  are  in  a  great  hurry,  and  this  is  sel- 
dom, for  neither  Indians  nor  Peruvians  are  ever  in  haste  about 
anything. 

"The  greatest  danger  to  inexperienced  travellers  is  that  of 
being  lost  in  the  forest.  Many  streams  come  in,  and  when 
the  water  is  very  high  it  is  difficult  to  know  whether  one  is 
crossing  a  tract  denuded  of  wood  or  one  of  the  many  channels 
of  the  river  ;  and  once  lost  in  the  forest  a  traveller's  fate  is 
sealed,  for  the  current  there  is  insufficient  to  enable  him  to 
judge  in  which  direction  is  the  main  river,  for  he  may  be  in 
a  back  eddy  or  in  the  current  from  a  cross  channel.  The 
trees  are  so  interlaced  with  creepers  that  every  foot  of  the  way 
has  to  be  cut,  while  among  the  foliage  are  snakes  of  all  kinds, 


DOWN    THE    RIVER  321 

from  the  great  boas  to  the  little  tree  snakes,  a  bite  from  which 
causes  death  in  a  few  minutes.  There  too  are  starving  jaguars, 
leopards,  and  wild  cats,  who,  once  they  get  over  the  terror 
caused  by  the  inundation,  are  all  on  the  look  -  out  for  food. 
Amidst  all  these  enemies  the  inexperienced  traveller  speedily 
loses  his  presence  of  mind  and  even  his  reason. 

' '  Once  when  I  was  going  down  this  very  river  we  heard 
a  noise  of  wild  laughter,  intermingled  with  strange  piercing 
cries.  We  knew  at  once  that  it  was  a  traveller  lost  in  the 
forest.  It  took  us  two  hours  to  cut  our  way  to  the  spot  where 
we  heard  the  sounds.  We  guessed  who  were  the  sufferers. 
Two  Spaniards  had  hired  a  large  canoe,  and  had  taken  with 
them  six  village  boatmen.  They  had  refused  my  offer  to  go 
with  four  men  of  my  tribe  who  were  accustomed  to  the  river 
and  its  dangers,  as  we  demanded  a  much  higher  sum  than  the 
villagers  were  ready  to  go  for,  and  we  said  when  we  saw  them 
put  off  that  they  would  never  get  down  to  the  mission.  When 
we  reached  the  spot  one  man  was  lying  dead  at  the  bottom  of 
the  canoe.  One  of  the  Spaniards  and  one  of  the  villagers 
were  missing,  having  no  doubt  leapt  overboard  in  their  mad- 
ness. The  others  were  all  raving  madmen,  some  with  scarce 
strength  to  raise  themselves  in  the  boat,  others  making  the 
dreadful  laughing  and  screaming  that  we  had  heard. 

"  When  they  saw  us  they  took  us,  I  believe,  for  devils,  and 
it  was  not  until  we  had  lassoed  the  strongest  that  we  were 
able  to  overpower  them.  We  bound  them  and  laid  them  at 
the  bottom  of  our  canoe  and  took  them  down  to  the  mission, 
which  was  some  fifty  miles  below  us.  I  was  told  afterwards 
that  only  one  of  them  ever  recovered  his  senses  ;  the  others 
either  died  raving  or  were  hopelessly  mad.  From  the  one 
who  recovered  it  was  learned  that  as  soon  as  they  came  to  the 
point  where  the  stream  became  rapid  they  made  for  the  edge 
of  the  forest.  At  night  they  tied  up  their  canoe  to  a  tree,  but 


322  WITH    COCHRANE    THE    DAUNTLESS 

in  the  morning  when  they  awoke  they  found  that  the  line  had 
become  untied,  and  that  they  had  drifted  into  the  forest. 
There  they  had  been  three  days  when  we  found  them.  They 
had  lost  all  idea  of  direction,  and  had  we  been  a  few  hours 
later  the  last  voice  would  have  been  silenced,  and  when  the 
flood  subsided  the  canoe  and  its  occupants  would  have  rotted 
away,  and  no  one  would  ever  have  known  the  fate  that  had 
befallen  them." 

"How  do  you  find  your  way  through  a  flooded  forest, 
Hurka?" 

"  It  is  born  in  us  as  it  is  born  in  birds  to  make  their  way 
back  to  their  nests.  It  may  be  that  a  careful  examination 
would  show  that  the  trunks  on  one  side  are  more  thickly 
covered  with  creepers  than  the  other ;  but  we  do  not  need  to 
take  notice  of  such  things,  or  if  we  notice  them  it  is  without 
knowing  it,  as  we  are  sure  of  our  direction.  We  have  seen 
Spanish  travellers  who  had  the  things  with  which  they  said 
they  could  direct  their  course  at  sea,  with  a  card  that  goes 
round  and  round  and  always  when  it  is  steady  points  in  one 
direction.  This  is  no  doubt  very  useful  out  on  the  plains  or 
in  a  forest  where  there  are  no  obstacles,  but  here  where  the 
woods  are  intercepted  by  numberless  streams  and  with  wide 
swamps,  such  a  machine  is  useless  to  any  one  unless  he  is  inti- 
mately acquainted  with  the  country  and  the  course  of  the 
streams.  Even  Indian  dwellers  on  the  shores  of  the  river 
often,  in  the  times  of  floods,  get  lost  in  the  forest  and  lose  their 
lives,  so  changed  is  the  aspect  of  everything  by  the  water." 

"  It  must  be  terrible,"  Stephen  said,  as  he  glanced  between 
the  trunks  of  the  trees  at  the  still,  dark  water  under  the  thick 
canopy.  "  Of  course  the  sun  must  be  a  help." 

"  We  do  not  often  see  the  sun  in  times  of  flood,  senor. 
Rain  often  falls  very  heavily,  and  even  when  it  does  not  do  so 
there  is,  you  see,  a  mist  in  the  air  rising  from  this  vast  expanse 


DOWN    THE    RIVER  '323 

of  water.  Besides,  it  is  only  when  it  is  directly  overhead  that 
the  sun's  rays  penetrate  the  foliage,  and  at  that  time  it  is  too 
high  for  the  shadows  to  afford  much  guidance.  Among  us, 
three  shots  of  a  gun  at  regular  intervals  is  a  call  for  aid,  but  in 
flood  time  it  is  a  useless  one,  for  the  Indians,  like  the  wild 
beasts,  all  leave,  save  when  their  huts  are  on  eminences,  and 
the  chances  of  the  shots  being  heard  by  human  ears  are  small 
indeed.  To  one  lost  in  the  forest  at  other  times  it  is  all  but 
certain  death,  but  when  the  floods  are  out  a  man  would  do 
wisely  to  fire  the  first  shot  into  his  own  head." 

Day  after  day  they  travelled  on,  keeping  just  far  enough 
out  to  get  the  benefit  of  the  current  without  allowing  them- 
selves to  be  drawn  towards  the  centre  of  the  river.  Even  this 
at  times  was  very  difficult,  especially  when  they  were  passing 
round  curves,  for  much  of  the  water,  instead  of  following  the 
channel,  made  its  way  through  the  forest  to  the  next  bend  in 
the  river,  and  they  had  the  greatest  difficulty  in  preventing 
themselves  from  being  drawn  in  among  the  trees  by  the  current. 
At  such  times  they  were  forced  to  launch  the  canoe  overboard, 
to  roll  up  the  bottom  of  the  raft,  and  to  lay  the  great  bundle 
of  rushes  across  the  poles  now  supported  by  the  inflated  skins. 
Only  then  by  vigorous  paddling,  in  which  Stephen  bore  his 
part,  were  they  able  to  tow  this  behind  them  across  the  current 
until  they  reached  a  point  where  the  force  of  the  stream  was 
confined  to  the  regular  channel.  At  one  point,  where  the 
river  was  broader  than  usual  and  the  current  in  consequence 
slower,  they  crossed  to  the  other  bank. 

"  We  are  getting  near  the  rapids  now,"  Hurka  said,  "  and 
this  bank  is  the  least  dangerous  of  the  two.  Hitherto  we  have 
had  nothing  but  the  force  of  the  stream  to  contend  with,  but 
now  we  shall  have  rocks.  It  is  for  this  that  we  constructed 
the  raft.  Up  to  now  we  should  have  done  far  better  to  have 
come  down  in  the  canoe  alone,  but,  once  among  the  rocks,  a 


324  WITH    COCHRANE    THE    DAUNTLESS 

touch  would  break  her  up,  while  the  raft  can  scrape  against 
them  without  injury.  You  will  see  that  the  aspect  of  things 
will  change  altogether ;  the  banks  where  the  rapids  are,  are 
high  and  steep,  and  the  inundations  will  cease  for  a  time. 
Once  beyond  the  falls  we  shall  again  be  in  a  flat  country,  and 
the  inundations  will  extend  almost  all  the  way  down  until  we 
reach  the  Amazon." 

' '  There  is  no  way  of  avoiding  the  rapids,  I  suppose  ? ' ' 
Stephen  asked. 

"  None  but  by  getting  out  and  carrying  everything  round. 
At  the  falls  this  has  to  be  done ;  there  are  no  other  means  of 
passing  them.  In  some  respects  it  is  safer  to  go  down  the 
rapids  now  than  it  is  in  the  dry  season,  for  the  greater  portion 
of  the  rocks  are  far  below  the  surface,  and  we  shall  pass  over 
small  falls  without  even  noticing  them." 

The  days  as  a  rule  passed  pleasantly  enough,  save  where 
the  voyagers  had  to  work  against  cross  currents,  but  at  night, 
when  they  tied  up  to  a  tree,  the  noise  was  prodigious.  The 
howling  and  roaring  of  wild  beasts  was  incessant.  Monkeys 
chattered  in  terror,  and  occasionally  an  almost  human  scream 
proclaimed  that  one  of  them  had  been  seized  by  a  snake,  or 
some  other  enemy.  The  hissing  of  reptiles  could  at  times  be 
distinctly  heard,  and  Stephen  often  thought  that  he  could  hear 
their  movements  in  the  boughs  above  him. 

At  length  they  approached  the  rapids,  and  the  stream  be- 
came still  more  impetuous.  The  Indians  had  cut  long  poles, 
and  as  they  drifted  down  one  stood  at  each  corner  of  the  raft, 
using  their  poles  occasionally  as  paddles  to  keep  it  straight. 
Stephen  remained  in  the  canoe  in  the  centre.  He  would 
gladly  have  shared  in  any  work  that  was  to  be  done,  but  here 
he  felt  that  he  could  be  of  no  use. 

"To-morrow  we  shall  be  in  the  full  force  of  the  rapids, 
sefior,"  Hurka  said.  "  I  should  advise  you  to  lay  yourself 


DOWN    THE    RIVER  325 

down  in  the  bottom  of  the  canoe  and  to  pass  the  day  in  sleep. 
It  will  be  safer  so  should  there  be  an  accident,  for,  with  your 
weight  at  the  bottom,  the  canoe  will  be  more  likely  to  keep 
upright  than  it  otherwise  would.  You  cannot  aid  us,  and  the 
speed  at  which  we  shall  do  the  next  hundred  miles  will  be 
great  indeed.  In  eight  hours  we  shall  be  at  the  foot  of  the 
rapids. ' ' 

"  I  will  sit  down  at  the  bottom  of  the  canoe,  but  I  must  see 
what  is  going  on.  I  am  accustomed  to  the  aspect  of  a  sea 
in  a  violent  gale,  and  this  great  body  of  water,  however  fast 
it  rushes,  will  not  be  more  trying  to  the  nerves  than  such  a 
scene  as  that.  There  is  one  thing  that  I  should  wish  you  to 
do.  Let  each  tie  a  light  rope  round  his  waist  and  fasten  the 
other  end  to  the  canoe,  and  then  if  the  raft  does  go  to  pieces 
you  will  be  able  to  get  on  board,  and  at  any  rate,  if  she  upsets 
we  shall  be  together. ' ' 

"We  will  do  it  if  you  wish,  senor,  but  there  would  be 
danger  of  our  capsizing  the  canoe." 

"  Not  so  much  danger  as  there  would  be  of  the  canoe  up- 
setting if  I  were  alone  in  it,  for  I  should  be  powerless  even 
to  keep  her  straight,  and  she  would  go  broadside  on  to  a  rock 
and  be  dashed  to  pieces. ' ' 

"  The  senor  is  right,  Hurka,"  Pita  said  gravely  ;  "  we  will 
do  as  he  wishes.  But  the  ropes  must  be  long,  so  that  if  we 
are  flung  off  the  raft  there  will  be  no  sudden  pull  on  the 
canoe.  Should  there  be  such  a  misfortune  I  will  shout  to 
you,  and  we  will  then  swim  towards  the  boat,  taking  up  the 
ropes  as  we  go,  but  putting  no  strain  upon  them ;  when  we 
reach  the  boat,  one  will  aid  the  senor  to  steady  it  while  the 
other  climbs  in ;  after  that  it  will  be  easier  to  get  the  second 
on  board." 

"  You  still  think  that  it  is  better  to  make  a  passage  than  to 
carry  the  whole  kit  and  the  canoe  over?  " 


326  WITH    COCHRANE   THE    DAUNTLESS 

"  It  would  take  many  weeks,  senor.  Besides,  though  I 
have  never  been  here  before,  I  have  heard  that  the  difficulties 
are  so  great  that  the  river  Indians  never  attempt  to  carry  even 
a  light  canoe  over.  I  am  at  your  service,  senor,  and  am  will- 
ing to  try  if  you  give  the  order,  but  I  have  been  told  by 
Indians  that  when  the  river  is,  as  now,  in  flood,  the  danger  is 
by  no  means  great.  Of  course,  we  shall  keep  out  of  the  full 
strength  of  the  current. ' ' 

Accordingly  they  started  the  next  morning,  and  an  hour 
after  setting  out  were  in  the  sweep  of  the  rapids.  The  passage 
was  an  intensely  exciting  one.  The  Indians  stood,  paddle  in 
hand,  one  at  each  corner  of  the  front  of  the  raft ;  their  poles 
lay  ready  to  snatch  up  in  case  any  rock  was  approached, 
but  the  paddles  were  needed  to  keep  the  raft  from  being 
dragged  out  into  the  full  force  of  the  current.  Here  the 
water  rose  in  steep  ridges,  and  had  the  raft  got  among  these 
it  would  have  been  torn  to  pieces  almost  instantly.  At  the 
same  time  it  was  desirable  not  to  go  too  near  the  shore,  as  the 
risk  from  submerged  rocks  would  be  greater  there.  But 
Stephen  saw  that  unless  rocks  came  absolutely  above  the  sur- 
face they  would  be  swept  over  them,  as  the  raft  drew  but  two 
or  three  inches  of  water.  Except  in  the  middle,  the  stream 
rushed  along  with  a  surface  broken  only  by  tiny  eddies.  It 
was  only  by  seeing  how  they  flew  past  the  banks  that  any  idea 
could  be  formed  of  the  speed  at  which  they  were  travelling. 

In  eight  hours  it  was  over.  Several  times  the  paddlers  had 
to  exert  themselves  to  the  utmost  to  avoid  spots  where  great 
swells  of  water  showed  that  there  were  rocks  below  the  sur- 
face, but  on  no  occasion  did  the  Indians  have  to  use  their 
poles.  The  bed  of  the  river  widened  sharply  at  the  foot  of 
the  rapids,  and  just  as  Stephen  congratulated  himself  that  the 
passage  had  been  safely  made,  he  saw  by  an  increase  in  the 
labour  of  the  Indians  that  something  was  wrong.  Standing 


DOWN    THE    RIVER  327 

up  in  the  canoe  he  perceived  that  they  had  been  shot  out  of 
the  current  into  the  back-water  formed  by  the  sudden  widen- 
ing of  the  stream,  and  that  in  this  back  -  water  was  a  very 
strong  eddy  sweeping  round  and  round  in  a  circle.  This  was 
about  a  hundred  yards  in  diameter,  with  a  depression  in  the 
centre,  and  round  this  the  raft  was  carried  at  a  rate  that  defied 
the  efforts  of  the  two  paddlers  to  check. 

At  one  moment  they  were  within  twenty  yards  of  a  flat 
forest -covered  shore,  and  the  next  were  near  the  edge  of  the 
torrent  pouring  down  the  rapids.  In  vain  the  paddlers  tried 
to  edge  the  raft  out  little  by  little  from  the  whirlpool.  Not 
only  was  the  current  too  strong  for  them,  but  its  surface  was 
dotted  with  floating  logs  and  branches  of  trees  that,  like  them- 
selves, coursed  round  and  round.  As  long  as  all  were  trav- 
elling at  the  same  rate  and  in  the  same  direction  the  danger 
of  a  collision  was  comparatively  slight,  but  more  than  once 
when  the  rowers  succeeded  in  gaining  a  short  distance  tow- 
ards the  outside  edge  of  the  whirlpool,  they  were  forced  to 
desist  suddenly  and  paddle  straight  with  the  current,  to  avoid 
a  great  log  bearing  down  upon  them. 

Pita  took  a  lariat  from  the  canoe  and  prepared  to  throw  it, 
so  as  to  catch  one  of  the  branches  when  they  neared  the  shore. 
He  tried  several  times,  but  the  distance  was  too  great ;  and 
indeed  it  was  necessary  to  catch  the  trees  at  some  little  dis- 
tance before  reaching  the  point  opposite  to  them,  in  order  to 
pull  diagonally  across  the  current,  for  a  jerk  when  the  canoe 
was  at  right  angles  would  have  torn  the  raft  to  pieces. 

"  Could  we  launch  the  canoe  and  paddle  out  of  the  whirl- 
pool in  that?  "  Stephen  said. 

"We  might  do  that,"  Hurka  replied,  "but  a  touch  from 
any  of  these  logs  would  sink  her  in  a  moment ;  and  besides, 
we  should  be  sorry  to  lose  the  raft,  for  we  have  no  skins  to 
make  floats,  and  the  rushes  of  which  we  constructed  it  only 


328  WITH    COCHRANE   THE    DAUNTLESS 

grow  in  the  quiet  waters  of  the  upper  river.  We  might  take 
to  the  canoe  as  a  last  resource,  but  we  should  be  very  loth  to 
doit." 

"How  long  would  the  lariats  be,  tied  together,  with  that 
piece  of  thin  rope  you  brought  to  check  the  raft  in  dangerous 
places  ? ' ' 

"  The  rope  is  a  hundred  and  fifty  yards  long,  senor;  the 
lariats  reach  about  thirty  yards." 

"  That  would  be  plenty,"  Stephen  said.  "  My  idea  is  that 
you  might  fasten  the  end  of  the  rope  to  an  arrow  and  shoot 
it  among  the  trees.  It  might  not  catch  the  first  time,  but  no 
doubt  it  would  after  a  few  trials.  The  rope  will,  of  course,  be 
coiled  up  so  as  to  pay  out  easily,  and  we  could  pull  it  in  or  pay 
it  out  as  we  went  round  and  round.  Each  time  as  we  approach 
the  shore  we  could  pull  on  it  a  little  and  edge  the  raft  a  few 
feet  out,  slackening  out  again  as  we  came  to  the  nearest  point 
to  the  trees.  If  there  were  any  logs  in  our  way  of  course  we 
should  not  pull ;  thus,  by  choosing  our  opportunity,  we  might 
get  her  out  little  by  little  till  we  are  outside  the  full  force  of 
the  stream." 

The  Indians  did  not  quite  understand  Stephen's  plan,  but 
at  once  agreed  to  try  it.  Pita  chose  his  heaviest  arrow  and 
lashed  the  end  of  the  rope  firmly  to  it,  close  to  the  feathers. 
Stephen  knotted  the  lariats  to  the  rope,  and  coiled  them  up  so 
that  they  would  run  out  easily,  and  they  then  prepared  for  the 
first  attempt. 


PITA  TRIES  STEPHEN'S  PLAN  IN  ORDER  TO  ESCAPE  FROM  THE 
WHIRLPOOL. 


CAPTURED    BY   INDIANS  329 

CHAPTER  XVIII 

CAPTURED    BY    INDIANS 

DRAWING  the  bow  till  the  point  of  the  arrow  almost 
touched  the  wood,  Pita  stood  like  a  statue  until  the  boat 
was  opposite  to  the  trees,  then  he  loosed  it,  and  it  flew  far  into 
the  foliage.  The  instant  the  boat  reached  the  opposite  side 
of  the  whirlpool  Stephen  and  Hurka  drew  in  the  rope  hand 
over  hand. 

"  Leave  go,  Hurka,"  Stephen  said  as  the  rope  tightened. 
" I  will  try  as  we  pass  whether  it  has  caught  in  the  trees." 

As  the  canoe  passed  on  he  put  a  slight  strain  on  the  rope. 
It  yielded  for  a  moment,  and  then  flew  through  his  fingers 
rapidly. 

"It  has  caught  on  something,"  he  said.  "  Now,  haul  in 
rapidly  this  time,  Hurka,  as  soon  as  we  pass  the  opposite 
point,  so  as  to  get  the  strain  on  as  quickly  as  we  can.  Pita, 
do  you  keep  your  eye  on  the  logs,  and  shout  if  there  is  any- 
thing in  the  way." 

As  soon  as  they  had  passed  the  half-way  point  on  their  way 
back  to  the  shore,  Stephen  and  Hurka  began  to  pull.  They 
could  get  but  little  tension  on  the  rope,  for  the  boat  was  trav- 
elling almost  as  fast  as  they  could  pull  it  in.  Still,  once  or  twice 
they  were  able  to  put  their  strength  on  it  for  a  moment,  and 
the  raft  moved  a  foot  or  two  through  the  water.  Again  and 
again  this  manoeuvre  was  repeated,  and  little  by  little  they 
gained  ground,  until  at  last  they  edged  the  raft  so  near  to  the 
edge  of  the  current  that  the  two  Indians,  seizing  their  paddles, 
were  able  to  get  her  into  the  still  water  beyond.  They  rowed 
to  the  trees,  and  there  tied  up. 

"That  was  a  good  plan,  senor,"   Pita  said.      "I  should 


330  WITH    COCHRANE    THE    DAUNTLESS 

never  have  thought  of  it.  I  did  think  of  shooting  an  arrow 
across  to  the  trees,  but  I  saw  that  the  jerk  would  be  so  great 
that  it  would  tear  the  raft  to  pieces." 

It  was  some  time  before  Stephen  was  inclined  to  talk ;  for 
the  exertion  necessary  to  pull  the  rope  in  at  a  rate  exceeding 
that  at  which  the  boat  was  travelling  towards  the  trees,  coming 
as  it  did  after  the  excitement  of  the  passage  down  the  rapids, 
had  completely  exhausted  him.  He  was  drenched  with  per- 
spiration, and  was  glad  to  lie  still  in  the  bottom  of  the  canoe 
for  a  time. 

"  Well,  what  next,  Pita?  "  he  asked  when  his  breath  came 
quietly. 

"  We  shall  float  down  as  before,  sefior.  It  is  a  flat  country 
for  the  next  fifty  miles,  and  the  great  inundations  will  rob  the 
river  of  its  power.  We  shall  have  several  more  rapids  to  pass, 
but  I  do  not  think  they  will  be  worse  than  these.  Then  we 
shall  get  to  the  falls.  There  are  several  small  ones,  round 
which  we  shall  have  to  carry  our  boats,  and  there  is  a  great 
one  where  the  whole  river  leaps  down  a  hundred  feet  in  a 
mass.  On  still  nights  you  can  hear  it,  I  am  told,  nigh  a  hun- 
dred miles  away.  It  is  the  greatest  fall  in  South  America, 
though  a  traveller  I  once  met  told  me  that  in  North  America 
there  was  a  fall  that  was  higher,  but  that  there  was  nothing 
like  the  same  quantity  poured  over  it  as  over  this  at  flood- 
time.  Once  beyond  that  there  remain  no  more  falls  or  rapids, 
and  a  ship  can  sail  up  there  from  the  Amazon.  Good-sized 
craft  do  come  up  sometimes,  for  there  is  a  mission-station 
there,  and  the  fathers  carry  on  a  trade  with  the  Indians,  who 
come  from  the  lower  districts  to  purchase  goods. ' ' 

"  I  shall  be  very  glad  when  the  water  gets  clear  enough  for 
us  to  take  to  fishing  again,"  Stephen  said.  "  We  have  caught 
no  fish  of  late,  and  have  got  but  a  few  birds,  and  I  am  getting 
very  tired  of  these  cakes." 


CAPTURED    BY    INDIANS  331 

Another  three  weeks  and  Stephen  stood  at  the  foot  of  the 
fall  of  the  river  Madeira.  The  flood  of  water  that  poured 
down  in  one  unbroken  sheet  was  enormous.  The  noise  was 
like  that  of  continual  thunder,  and  Stephen,  as  he  stood 
watching  the  swollen  waters  at  his  feet  and  feeling  the  very 
ground  shake  beneath  them,  felt  spell-bound  at  the  grandeur  of 
the  scene.  The  mission-house  was  inhabited  by  only  two  or 
three  old  monks,  and  from  them  they  learned  that  there  had 
been  a  bad  outbreak  of  fever  there,  several  had  died,  and  the 
rest  were  so  weakened  that  it  had  been  determined  that  the 
monks,  with  the  exception  of  these  men,  who  had  passed 
through  many  fevers  and  were  thoroughly  acclimatized,  should 
go  down  by  boat  to  Barra,  and  remain  there  until  the  season 
of  the  floods  terminated  and  the  sun  had  dried  the  inundated 
country. 

Stephen  was  glad  of  a  rest,  for  since  entering  the  rapids  the 
work  had  been  hard  and  continuous.  The  Indians  would  have 
undertaken  all  the  portage  round  the  various  falls  and  bad 
rapids,  but  he  insisted  on  doing  his  share  of  the  work,  and  had 
day  after  day  toiled  with  heavy  weights  over  a  rough  country. 
It  was  all  over  now,  and  the  prospect  of  a  week  spent  at  the 
mission  before  proceeding  on  their  voyage  was  very  pleasant. 

"  You  must  be  careful,"  one  of  the  monks  said,  "  not  to 
stray  too  far  from  the  house.  The  natives  of  the  neighbour- 
hood have  long  since  been  Christianized,  but  we  are  visited  by 
parties  from  long  distances  belonging  to  some  of  the  other 
tribes  who  are  still  wholly  wild  and  eat  human  flesh.  Here 
they  behave  peaceably,  because  they  credit  us  with  super- 
natural powers,  seeing  the  respect  and  devotion  with  which 
we  are  regarded  by  the  natives  here,  of  whom  indeed  we 
generally  keep  a  strong  body  on  guard  during  the  time  that 
the  strangers  most  frequently  visit  us  ;  that  is  to  say,  at  the  time 
that  the  floods  are  out.  At  that  time  most  of  the  people  who 


332  WITH    COCHRANE    THE    DAUNTLESS 

live  near  the  river  are  forced  to  retire  to  a  great  distance  from 
their  homes,  and  being  deprived  of  their  usual  pursuits,  they 
take  that  opportunity  of  coming  here  to  purchase  the  articles 
they  require.  I  do  not  say  that  they  would  harm  you,  but 
assuredly  they  might  do  so,  and  it  would  therefore  be  best  for 
you  to  keep  near  the  mission-house.  Here  you  are  safe  from 
any  danger  whatever,  for  even  the  wildest  Indian  would  not 
venture  to  set  foot  inside  these  walls,  fearing  that  if  they  did, 
some  terrible  calamity  might  befall  them." 

Stephen  took  the  advice,  for  although  he  was  not  much 
affected  by  what  the  old  man  said,  Pita  and  his  companion 
both  confirmed  his  words,  and  told  him  that  many  bad  Ind- 
ians, who  would  kill  and  eat  any  white  man  who  entered 
their  district,  frequently  visited  these  mission-houses. 

"Always  carry  your  gun  with  you,  senor.  They  have  not 
the  same  terror  of  firearms  as  their  forefathers  had,  but  they 
have  heard  enough  to  know  that  they  are  weapons  of  war, 
and  much  more  formidable  than  their  own  bows  and  arrows, 
or  the  poisoned  darts  of  their  blow-pipes." 

Stephen  accordingly  never  went  out,  even  to  visit  the  falls, 
where  he  spent  the  greater  portion  of  his  time,  without  his 
rifle.  Generally  one  or  other  of  the  Indians  accompanied 
him,  but  seeing  that  no  strangers  visited  the  mission-house, 
they  gradually  abstained  from  doing  so.  Stephen  preferred 
being  alone — the  tremendous  roar  of  the  water  rendered  con- 
versation impossible  —  and  he  was  quite  content  to  lie  and 
dreamily  watch  the  flood  pouring  down  unceasingly.  On  the 
evening  before  the  day  on  which  they  were  to  start,  the  moon 
was  shining  brilliantly,  and  Stephen,  taking  his  gun  as  usual, 
went  out  without  mentioning  his  intention  to  his  companions, 
and  strolled  down  to  take  a  last  quiet  look  at  the  mighty  fall, 
whose  fascination  grew  upon  him  the  oftener  he  looked  at  it 
and  came  to  realize  more  and  more  its  marvellous  power  and 


CAPTURED    BY    INDIANS  333 

energy.  He  had  been  seated  there  for  about  an  hour,  when, 
without  the  slightest  warning  that  anyone  was  near  him,  he 
received  a  sudden  blow  on  the  head  that  rolled  him  over 
unconscious.  When  he  recovered  his  senses  he  found  himself 
in  the  bottom  of  a  small  canoe  paddled  by  three  Indians. 

Overhead  he  could  see  the  branches  of  trees,  and  knew  from 
this  that  they  were  following  the  bank  of  the  river.  Pres- 
ently, to  his  surprise,  they  turned  sharply  off,  and  were  at 
once  in  the  gloom  of  the  forest.  They  paddled  for  an  hour, 
and  then  tied  up  the  canoe  to  a  tree.  One  of  them  lit  a  torch 
at  the  fire  that  smouldered  on  a  flat  stone,  and  the  three 
gathered  round  it.  Stephen  could  see  that  they  were  closely 
examining  his  rifle,  pistols,  watch,  and  money.  Few  remarks 
were  made,  but  Stephen  gathered  from,  the  tone  that  they 
were  well  satisfied  with  the  capture. 

"  I  have  fallen  into  bad  hands  this  time,"  he  said  to  him- 
self. "  There  is  no  doubt  about  their  being  stranger  Indians. 
I  can  understand  my  arms  being  regarded  by  them  as  a  most 
valuable  capture,  but  why  they  did  not  finish  me  at  once,  in- 
stead of  taking  me  away  with  them,  is  more  than  I  can  under- 
stand, unless  it  be  that  they  are  cannibals." 

After  examining  his  bonds  and  assuring  themselves  that 
they  were  tight,  the  Indians  lay  down  to  sleep,  but  in  the 
morning  continued  their  journey  as  soon  as  daylight  broke. 
From  the  absence  of  undergrowth  and  of  lianas  stretching 
from  tree  to  tree  anywhere  low  down,  Stephen  came  to  the 
conclusion  that  they  were  following  what  was  in  the  dry  sea- 
son a  track  through  the  forest.  The  Indians  were  quite  young 
men,  and  laughed  and  talked  without  any  of  the  gravity  that 
distinguished  the  older  men  among  the  natives.  For  some 
hours  they  paddled  on,  then  their  progress  was  stopped  by  a 
deep  tangle  of  creepers  stretching  from  tree  to  tree  across  their 
way.  There  was  an  exclamation  of  surprise  and,  as  Stephen 


334  WITH    COCHRANE    THE    DAUNTLESS 

thought,  of  apprehension ;  they  began  to  talk  rapidly  and 
eagerly  together,  one  pointing  in  one  direction  and  another 
in  quite  an  opposite  one. 

"  They  have  lost  the  path,"  he  said  to  himself,  "  perhaps 
they  took  the  wrong  turn  at  starting." 

The  argument  between  them  was  an  animated  one,  until 
one  pointed  to  a  ray  of  sunlight  that  penetrated  the  foliage 
and  fell  on  the  trunk  of  a  tree  near  the  water's  level.  All 
looked  surprised  and  even  graver  than  before.  The  head  of 
the  canoe  was  turned,  and  they  started  in  the  direction  from 
which  they  had  come,  by  which  Stephen  concluded  that  they 
had  unwittingly  made  half  a  circuit.  They  now  paddled 
steadily  and  gravely,  watching  the  darts  of  sunlight,  and  evi- 
dently steering  by  them.  Before  they  had  gone  far  the  char- 
acter of  the  forest  changed,  the  trees  grew  somewhat  further 
apart ;  but  an  undergrowth  of  smaller  trees  rendering  it  ex- 
tremely difficult  for  them  to  force  their  canoe  onward,  their 
knives  had  frequently  to  be  brought  out  to  cut  a  way  through 
the  creepers.  Angry  words  were  frequently  exchanged  be- 
tween them,  each,  it  was  evident  to  Stephen,  accusing  the 
others  of  being  the  cause  of  the  disaster.  The  quarrel  be- 
came more  and  more  embittered,  until  at  last  two  of  them 
started  up,  and,  drawing  their  knives,  fell  furiously  upon  one 
another.  In  the  struggle  they  almost  capsized  the  boat,  and 
catching  at  each  other  to  save  themselves,  both  went  over- 
board together. 

The  struggle  was  continued  in  the  water,  the  men  stabbing 
each  other  fiercely,  while  the  Indian  on  board  endeavoured  in 
vain  by  his  shouts  to  induce  them  to  abandon  the  strife. 
Presently  one  of  them,  struck  to  the  heart,  threw  up  his  arms 
and  sank ;  the  other  turned  to  swim  back  to  the  boat,  but 
after  one  or  two  feeble  strokes  he  too  sank  lower  and  lower, 
and  the  water  soon  closed  over  his  head.  The  remaining  Ind- 


CAPTURED    BY    INDIANS  335 

ian  stood  for  a  time  immovable,  with  terror  and  consterna- 
tion in  his  face,  and  then  he  shook  his  fist  threateningly  at 
Stephen,  whom  he  evidently  regarded  as  being  in  some  way 
the  author  of  their  misfortune,  and  then,  taking  up  his  paddle, 
proceeded  to  row.  His  manner,  however,  was  indecisive. 
He  had  lost  all  confidence,  and  turned  aside  whenever  the 
way  was  barred  by  creepers,  instead  of  trying  to  cut  through 
them.  At  times  he  ceased  paddling  altogether,  and  sat  gazing 
restlessly  around  him,  at  other  times  he  paddled  with  feverish 
energy.  Some  water  had  come  in  over  the  gunwale  during 
the  struggle  between  the  Indians,  and  Stephen  managed  to 
turn  round,  face  downwards,  to  take  a  hearty  drink. 

When  evening  came  on,  the  Indian  was  paddling  almost 
mechanically,  when  from  a  branch  of  a  tree  above  something 
dropped  down.  For  a  moment  Stephen  could  not  discern  its 
nature.  There  was  a  swift,  rapid  movement,  a  piercing  cry 
from  the  Indian,  followed  by  the  sound  of  cracking  bones, 
and  then  the  man  was  lifted  bodily  out  of  the  boat.  Stephen 
could  now  see  two  great  coils  wrapped  round  his  body,  and 
the  head  of  a  gigantic  python ;  then,  overcome  by  the  horror 
of  the  scene,  he  became  unconscious.  When  he  recovered  he 
found  that  the  canoe  had  drifted  away  from  the  tree.  He 
now  set  to  work  desperately  to  loose  his  bonds,  and  after 
great  efforts  and  suffering  severe  pain,  succeeded  in  getting 
one  hand  loose.  After  that  the  rest  was  easy,  and  in  a  few 
minutes  he  was  free.  Seizing  the  paddle  he  rowed  away  from 
the  scene  of  the  tragedy,  and  presently  tied  up  to  a  young 
sapling,  whose  head  was  just  above  the  water. 

His  next  step  was  to  examine  the  contents  of  the  canoe. 
It  contained,  however,  nothing  but  two  or  three  fish  dried  in 
the  sun,  and  some  cakes,  of  whose  composition  he  was  igno- 
rant, save  that  they  were  certainly  not  made  of  flour.  Having 
satisfied  his  hunger  and  taken  a  long  drink  from  the  water 


336  WITH    COCHRANE    THE    DAUNTLESS 

alongside,  he  fired  his  rifle  three  times,  but  no  answering 
sound  came  back.  Knowing  that  he  might  only  be  paddling 
away  from  the  river,  he  stretched  himself  in  the  bottom  of 
the  canoe,  and  resolutely  postponing  all  thought  of  his  posi- 
tion until  daybreak,  fell  asleep.  He  awoke  as  soon  as  it  was 
light  again,  loaded  and  fired  his  gun  three  times,  and  again 
listened  for  a  response. 

"It  is  of  no  use  my  waiting  here,"  he  said  to  himself,  after 
some  thought.  "  Pita  has  no  shadow  of  a  clue  as  to  what  has 
become  of  me,  and  as  I  may  be  thirty  miles  away  from  him 
it  would  take  an  army  to  find  me.  I  had  better  try  and  push 
on  until  I  get  to  dry  land.  I  may  then  be  able  to  work  round 
the  inundations  until  I  reach  the  rocky  ground  and  can  make 
my  way  along  it  to  the  mission."  As  soon  as  the  sun  rose  he 
was  able  to  determine  the  points  of  the  compass,  and  paddled 
steadily  on,  his  eyes  fixed  upon  the  trees  above  him.  Other 
snakes  might  be  lurking  or  wild  beasts  taking  refuge  in  the 
branches.  That  there  were  many  of  these  indeed  he  was  sure, 
by  the  number  of  uneasy  howls  that  he  had  heard  before  the 
sun  rose.  Several  times  as  he  rowed  he  caught  sight  of  leop- 
ards and  jaguars  in  the  trees ;  one  of  the  latter,  unobserved 
until  he  had  passed  beyond  the  branches,  sprang  down  from 
above,  narrowly  missing  the  stern  of  the  canoe,  and  starting 
in  pursuit  as  soon  as  it  came  to  the  surface  again.  Stephen, 
however,  was  able  to  drive  the  boat  through  the  water  at  a 
much  higher  rate  than  the  beast  could  swim,  and  it  was  not 
long  before  he  had  left  it  far  behind  him. 

He  continued  to  paddle  all  day,  but  felt  that  his  nerves 
were  beginning  to  fail  him,  and  it  was  only  by  a  great  effort 
that  he  was  able  to  keep  a  fixed  direction  by  the  aid  of  the 
sun  through  the  leaves.  He  tied  up  again  at  night,  and 
paddled  all  the  next  day,  finding  to  his  gratification  in  the 
afternoon  that  the  water  now  did  not  average  more  than  four 


CAPTURED    BY    INDIANS  337 

feet  deep.  By  noon  the  next  day  he  saw  a  break  in  the  line 
of  water,  and  a  few  minutes  later  stood  on  dry  ground.  He 
did  not  attempt  to  go  further,  but  throwing  himself  down  fell 
at  once  into  a  deep  sleep.  It  was  evening  when  he  awoke  ; 
the  fire  still  burned  on  the  hearth  in  the  canoe ;  he  had  been 
careful  to  keep  it  alight  by  breaking  off  pieces  of  dead  wood 
from  the  trees.  He  now  collected  a  large  store,  built  up  a 
pile  a  few  feet  beyond  the  water  -  level,  and  bringing  some 
brands  from  the  fire  set  it  alight.  His  scanty  stock  of  pro- 
visions was  now  nearly  exhausted  ;  he  ate  half  of  what  re- 
mained, and  then  lay  down  before  the  fire  with  his  pistols 
ready  at  hand  in  case  any  wild  beast  should  come  near.  The 
next  morning  he  started  in  what  he  believed  to  be  the  right 
direction,  keeping  near  the  edge  of  the  inundation.  His 
memory  of  what  happened  afterwards  was  vague  and  indis- 
tinct. He  remembered  that  for  several  days  he  kept  on, 
sometimes  plucking  fruit  as  he  went,  and  occasionally  firing  a 
gun  three  times.  Rapidly  his  strength  failed  as  he  went  on, 
he  often  stumbled  and  fell  from  exhaustion  and  hunger,  and 
the  power  of  thought  altogether  deserted  him. 

At  times  he  fancied  he  saw  men  approaching,  but  only  to 
find  that  his  imagination  had  converted  trees  into  moving 
objects.  He  had  long  since  left  the  edge  of  the  inundation. 
He  was  parched  with  thirst,  his  mind  wandered,  incoherent 
cries  proceeded  from  his  parched  lips.  At  last  he  thought  he 
saw  a  native  village  before  him  ;  as  he  drew  towards  it  figures 
came  out  from  the  huts  and  gazed  at  him.  A  moment  later 
he  fell  headlong  to  the  ground,  and  lay  there  insensible. 

When  he  came  to  himself  he  felt  so  weak  that  he  could 
neither  turn  nor  raise  his  head,  but  lay  wondering  vaguely 
where  he  was.  As  he  looked  upwards  he  thought  he  was  still 
dreaming,  for  the  well-known  face  of  Pita  was  looking  down 
upon  him. 


338  WITH    COCHRANE   THE    DAUNTLESS 

"  Do  you  know  me?  "  It  was  certainly  Pita's  voice,  and 
being  unable  to  move,  Stephen  closed  his  eyelids  quickly  in 
reply  to  the  question. 

"  The  saints  be  praised  !  "  the  Indian  exclaimed,  using  the 
ejaculation  common  among  the  Peruvians.  ' '  He  knows  me, 
Hurka — he  is  sensible  again,  after  all  this  time." 

Hurka  hurried  up  on  the  other  side  of  Stephen.  "  It  is 
true  !  "  he  exclaimed  ;  "  he  knows  me  also." 

The  Indian  brought  a  gourd,  and  poured  some  liquor  into 
Stephen's  mouth.  "  Do  not  talk,"  he  said;  "we  shall 
have  plenty  of  time  for  that  later  on." 

Stephen  closed  his  eyes  obediently.  Even  now  he  was  not 
certain  but  that  he  was  still  in  a  dream.  So  many  times  of 
late  he  had  had  a  vague  fancy  that  his  Indian  guides  were 
still  with  him  that  he  doubted  the  evidence  both  of  eye  and 
ear.  However,  he  soon  went  off  to  sleep  again.  When  he 
awoke,  Hurka  was  at  hand,  and  ready  to  pour  some  hot  broth 
down  his  throat.  It  was  long  before  he  was  strong  enough  to 
ask  questions,  and  the  Indian  positively  refused  to  talk.  At 
last  the  time  came  when  he  was  able  to  be  propped  up  into  a 
sitting  position  on  his  bed,  which  was  composed  of  leaves 
covered  with  blankets. 

"  I  am  strong  enough  to  hear  about  it  now,  Pita.  Tell  me 
where  I  am  and  how  you  come  to  be  here." 

"Hurka  will  tell,"  the  Indian  replied;  "it  is  a  long 
talk." 

Stephen  looked  to  Hurka,  who  at  once  began. 

"When  you  did  not  return  that  evening,  senor,  Pita  and 
I  went  out  to  search  for  you.  We  knew  where  you  generally 
sat,  but  you  were  gone.  We  went  to  the  mission,  got  some 
torches,  and  searching  in  the  sand  between  the  rocks  we 
found  traces  of  Indians'  feet,  and  were  able  to  follow  them  up 
to  a  point  nearly  a  mile  below  the  falls.  There  they  ceased, 


CAPTURED    BY    INDIANS  339 

and  we  were  sure  that  you  had  been  carried  off  in  a  canoe. 
As  we  found  no  sign  whatever  of  blood  or  marks  of  a  struggle 
we  felt  sure  that  you  had  not  been  wounded,  but  concluded 
that  you  had  been  suddenly  seized,  bound,  and  carried  off. 
We  roused  some  of  the  mission  Indians,  and  I  with  three  of 
them  took  to  our  canoe  and  paddled  down  the  river  for  twelve 
hours.  As  we  had  no  weight  to  carry  and  had  four  paddles, 
we  felt  sure  that  by  that  time  we  should  have  overtaken  you 
had  they  held  on  down  the  river,  for  we  concluded  by  the 
footmarks  that  there  were  but  three  of  them,  and  they  had 
your  weight  in  the  boat. 

' '  They  could  hardly  have  counted  on  being  pursued  so 
closely,  and  would  not,  therefore,  have  made  any  special 
effort.  Then  we  turned  and  paddled  back,  keeping  close  to 
the  trees  in  hopes  of  getting  some  sign  of  where  the  canoe  had 
entered  the  forest.  We  found  none,  and  as  soon  as  we  got 
to  the  mission,  I  set  out  to  follow  Pita,  who  had  started  in- 
land. We  thought  it  likely  that  the  Indians  had  come  across 
the  inundations,  and  that  he  might  obtain  some  news  as  to 
which  tribe  they  belonged  to.  Of  course  he  followed  the 
high  ground  and  passed  through  several  Indian  villages,  but 
he  was  sure  that  they  had  not  come  from  these,  for  in  that 
case  they  would  have  gone  on  foot  to  the  mission  instead  of 
taking  the  trouble  to  pass  through  the  forest  in  a  canoe.  He 
walked  sixty  miles  the  next  day  and  then  reached  the  farthest 
edge  of  the  inundation,  and  leaving  the  high  ground  followed 
it. 

"  He  had  taken  with  him  a  bag  of  flour  from  the  mission, 
and  kept  on  for  a  week  ;  then  he  thought  he  must  have  gone 
beyond  the  spot  where  you  had  been  landed.  He  had 
walked,  he  thought,  fifty  miles  a  day,  and  was  more  than  three 
hundred  from  the  high  ground,  and  concluded  that  unless  the 
canoe  had  come  a  long  distance  up  the  river  they  would  never 


340  WITH    COCHRANE   THE    DAUNTLESS 

have  made  so  long  a  passage  through  the  forest.  Then  he 
went  back  again,  keeping  further  away  from  the  water.  Four 
days  later  he  came  upon  a  group  of  Indian  huts,  and  there 
heard  that  a  strange  white  man  had  arrived  at  a  village 
twenty  miles  distant,  two  days  before.  None  knew  from 
whence  he  came,  for  he  had  fallen  down  as  soon  as  he  arrived, 
and  was  lying  ill.  Pita  could  not  understand  how  you  could 
have  arrived  in  such  a  state,  unless  indeed  you  had  killed 
your  captors  after  landing,  and  had  then  wandered  in  the 
forest  until  you  chanced  upon  the  village.  He  hastened  there, 
greatly  disturbed  in  his  mind,  in  the  first  place,  at  the  thought 
of  your  illness,  and  next  because  the  tribe  was  a  very  savage 
one  and  ate  human  flesh. 

"  When  he  entered  the  village  the  natives  crowded  round 
him.  He  was  an  Indian  like  themselves,  but  his  dress  showed 
that  he  consorted  with  the  hated  white  men.  Pita,  however, 
pushed  them  aside,  and  to  their  astonishment  spoke  to  them 
in  their  own  language.  Pita's  mother,  indeed,  had  been  one 
of  that  very  tribe,  and  her  father  a  great  chief  among  them, 
so  that  when  he  told  them  who  he  was,  he  was  heartily  wel- 
comed and  treated  with  great  respect.  It  was  lucky  for  me 
that  he  arrived,  for  only  the  day  before  I  too,  when  I  gained 
news  of  your  whereabouts,  had  reached  the  village,  and  upon 
entering  had  at  once  been  made  prisoner.  I  gathered  from 
what  I  could  understand  of  their  language  that  I  was  to  be 
eaten.  I  think  that  the  manner  in  which  you  entered  their 
village,  and  the  mystery  as  to  how  you  could  have  come 
there,  saved  your  life.  It  seemed  to  them  as  something  su- 
pernatural, and  they  were  attending  you  carefully  in  order 
that  if  you  recovered  they  might  learn  from  you  how  you  had 
come  there,  after  which  they  would  no  doubt  have  killed 
you.  Pita  had  some  difficulty  in  obtaining  my  release,  but 
upon  his  saying  that,  although  belonging  to  another  tribe,  I 


CAPTURED    BY    INDIANS  341 

was  a  great  friend  of  his,  they  handed  me  over  to  him.  Since 
then  we  have  been  as  natives  of  the  village.  We  have  taken 
it  by  turn  to  nurse  you,  and  by  turns  have  hunted  with  the 
men. ' ' 

"  How  long  have  I  been  here  ?  " 

"  Nigh  six  months,  senor." 

"  Six  months  !  "  Stephen  repeated  ;  "  surely  not,  Hurka. 
I  never  could  have  been  ill  all  that  time ;  I  must  have  died 
long  ago." 

"  You  were  ill  for  six  weeks,  senor,  with  fever.  When  at 
last  that  passed  away,  your  mind  did  not  come  back  to  you. 
Sometimes  you  raved  about  a  great  snake  that  was  about  to 
seize  you ;  sometimes  you  thought  that  you  were  wandering 
in  the  forest ;  more  often  you  lay  quiet  and  without  saying 
anything.  We  gave  you  plenty  of  food  and  you  got  stronger, 
but  there  was  no  change  in  your  mind.  A  month  before 
your  mind  came  back  the  fever  seized  you  again,  and  we  had 
little  hope  that  you  would  live ;  but  we  had  got  medicine 
from  the  mission,  and  just  when  it  seemed  to  us  that  you 
were  on  the  point  of  death,  you  fell  into  a  deep  sleep,  and 
when,  after  lying  for  twenty  hours  so,  you  opened  your  eyes 
and  knew  Pita,  we  found  that  your  mind  had  come  back  to 
you  again.  That  is  all." 

"And  you  and  Pita  have  remained  here  for  six  months 
nursing  me!  "  Stephen  said,  holding  out  his  hand  to  the 
Indian  ;  "  you  are  indeed  good  comrades  and  faithful  friends, 
and  I  owe  my  life  to  you." 

The  exhaustion  caused  by  listening  to  Hurka's  story  pre- 
vented Stephen  from  saying  more,  and  in  two  minutes  he 
dropped  off  to  sleep.  The  next  day  he  related  to  the  two 
Indians  the  story  of  his  passage  through  the  forest. 

"  It  was  wonderful  indeed  that  you  should  have  alighted 
upon  my  mother's  village,"  Pita  said.  "It  was  not  to  this 


342  WITH    COCHRANE    THE    DAUNTLESS 

that  the  three  Indians  belonged,  but  to  another  thirty  miles 
away.  Their  disappearance  has  been  the  subject  of  much 
talk.  It  was  at  first  thought  that  they  had  lost  their  way  in 
the  inundation  and  so  perished,  but  when  their  canoe  was 
discovered  at  the  edge  of  the  water-mark,  long  after  the  in- 
undation had  ceased,  no  one  could  account  for  it.  The  vil- 
lage was  but  three  or  four  miles  from  the  spot  where  the 
canoe  was  found,  and  there  was  no  possibility  of  their  missing 
their  way.  They  could  hardly  have  been  all  three  devoured 
by  wild  beasts,  unless,  indeed,  they  had  fallen  in  with  a  herd 
of  peccaries;  and  this,  it  is  now  thought,  must  have  been 
their  fate.  Fortunately,  no  one  associated  your  coming  with 
the  discovery  of  the  canoe. ' ' 

Gradually  Stephen  regained  strength,  but  it  was  some  weeks 
before  he  was  fit  to  travel  again. 

"  I  suppose,"  he  said  one  day  to  Hurka,  "  that  you  will 
follow  the  track  straight  through  the  forest  to  the  mission, 
instead  of  going  all  the  way  round  as  you  did." 

"  I  don't  know  yet,  seiior.  We  shall  have  some  difficulty 
in  getting  away.  Our  skill  with  the  bow  and  gun  have  so 
impressed  them  that  they  want  to  make  Pita  their  chief  and 
keep  him  here,  and  they  want  to  adopt  me  into  the  tribe  for 
the  same  reason.  Till  you  began  to  get  stronger  we  could 
roam  about  as  we  liked  alone,  but  of  late  we  have  noticed 
that  we  are  always  watched,  and  Pita  has  been  told  that  un- 
less he  consents  to  remain,  you  and  I  will  both  be  killed  and 
eaten.  Pita  has  put  off  giving  them  a  decided  answer,  but 
he  cannot  do  so  much  longer  ;  and  now  that  you  are  well 
enough  to  travel,  we  shall  have  to  make  off  as  soon  as  we  can. 
He  has  been  told  that  if  he  and  I  consent  to  remain  with 
them,  they  will  take  you  to  a  place  among  the  hills,  eight 
days  away,  where  you  can  find  much  gold  and  return  rich  to 
your  own  country." 


CAPTURED    BY    INDIANS  343 

"  It  is  very  awkward,  Hurka,  but  I  should  think  that  you 
and  Pita  can  contrive  some  plan  for  getting  off." 

The  little  Indian  nodded. 

"We  can  mannage  that,"  he  said.  "We  have  only  been 
waiting  until  we  were  sure  that  you  were  strong  enough  to 
travel.  I  know  that  even  now  you  could  not  go  far,  but 
once  in  the  forest,  we  shall  be  able  to  outwit  them  and  to 
travel  slowly.  Pita  and  I  have  been  hiding  up  a  store  of 
food  for  the  journey,  and  if  you  are  willing  we  will  try  to 
make  our  escape  to-night.  There  have,  for  the  last  fortnight, 
been  men  posted  round  us  as  soon  as  it  became  dark,  but  we 
shall  be  able  either  to  crawl  through  them  or  to  dispose  of 
any  who  may  bar  our  way." 

Pita  presently  returned  from  hunting.  He  carried  a  dozen 
large  pigeons  in  his  hand. 

"We  must  go  to-night,"  he  said  briefly.  "  I  have  been 
told  that  I  must  give  an  answer  to-morrow. ' ' 

"  I  have  been  telling  the  sefior,"  Hurka  said,  "  and  he  is 
ready  to  make  the  attempt  at  once ;  but  I  wish  that  they  had 
given  you  a  day  or  two  longer,  for  there  will  be  extra  vig- 
ilance to-night." 

Pita  made  a  gesture  of  contempt. 

"  They  will  but  throw  away  their  lives,"  he  said.  "Let 
us  go  out." 

As  they  walked  along  the  village  the  women  looked  curi- 
ously at  them,  while  men  watched  them  closely  with  scowling 
looks. 

"  Do  you  see  that  large  tree  at  the  edge  of  the  forest, 
sefior ?  "  Pita  asked  presently ;  "it  has  lost  its  bark,  and  the 
trunk  is  white. ' ' 

"  I  see  it,  Pita." 

"  Well,  sefior,  as  soon  as  we  start  to-night  do  you  make 
straight  for  that.  We  will  join  you  there.  Do  not  stop  if 


344  WITH    COCHRANE    THE    DAUNTLESS 

there  should  be  fighting,  and  have  no  fear  for  us.  The  great 
point  is  for  you  to  get  to  the  edge  of  the  forest.  You  are 
not  strong  enough  to  run  fast  yet ;  but  once  in  the  forest  we 
shall  be  all  right.  The  night  is  dark,  for  the  moon  will  not 
rise  till  some  hours  after  sunset.  Do  you  think  that  you  will 
be  able  to  find  the  tree  ?  ' ' 

"  I  think  so,  Pita.  I  will  fix  its  bearings  in  my  mind,  and 
notice  the  direction  I  have  to  take  on  leaving  the  hut.  I  wish 
I  had  my  gun  and  pistols." 

"  You  can  have  my  gun  when  we  are  once  in  the  forest, 
senor ;  but  we  must  fight  at  first  with  our  bows.  There  are 
a  hundred  and  fifty  men  here,  and  as  we  wish  above  all  things 
to  hide  the  way  we  have  gone,  a  gun  must  not  be  fired  unless 
we  are  so  surrounded  that  escape  is  impossible." 

"  How  shall  we  leave  the  hut,  Pita  ?  " 

11  By  the  back.  We  will  cut  a  hole  through  that  mud  wall 
as  soon  as  it  gets  dark  ;  but  we  must  not  leave  until  all  save 
the  watchers  are  asleep,  or  we  should  have  them  all  down 
upon  us  instantly,  on  the  alarm  being  raised.  When  we  are 
through  them,  Hurka  and  I  will  run  in  another  direction, 
and  make  a  long  round  before  we  come  back  to  the  tree,  so 
that  they  will  not  know  in  which  direction  to  seek  for  us. 
They  will  be  sure,  indeed,  that  we  shall  take  to  the  forest ; 
but  it  would  be  useless  for  them  to  begin  the  search  for  us 
until  the  morning,  and  they  will  be  in  no  great  haste,  for 
they  will  know  that  you  are  not  strong  enough  to  walk  very 
far,  and  that  when  they  once  strike  on  our  track  they  will 
have  no  difficulty  in  overtaking  us." 

"  I  feel  strong  enough  to  walk  a  good  distance,"  Stephen 
said. 

"You  may  feel  so,  senor;  but  you  have  not  tried.  For 
months  your  limbs  have  done  no  work,  and  they  will  soon 
feel  it.  Besides,  even  had  you  your  full  strength  and  vigour, 


CAPTURED    BY    INDIANS  345 

the  Indians  could  easily  outwalk  you,  for  they  would  run  in 
fourh  ours  as  much  as  you  could  do  in  eight.  If  we  escape, 
it  must  be  by  craft,  and  not  by  speed." 

"  I  am  quite  sure  that  you  will  do  all  that  you  can,  Pita, 
but  remember  that  it  is  my  express  wish  that  you  should  not 
throw  away  your  lives  in  a  vain  attempt  to  save  mine.  I  will 
do  all  that  I  can ;  but  if  they  come  close  to  us,  and  I  can  go 
no  further,  I  charge  you  to  leave  me,  and  to  make  your  way 
to  the  river.  You  have  already  done  too  much  for  me,  by 
throwing  away  eight  months  of  your  lives  in  this  wretched 
place.  Few  indeed  would  have  done  so  much,  and  it  is 
my  most  earnest  wish  that  you  should  not  sacrifice  your 
lives  for  my  sake  in  a  hopeless  struggle  against  overpower- 
ing odds." 

Hurka  laughed.  "That  is  not  our  way,  senor.  We  are 
comrades,  and  comrades  stick  to  each  other  to  the  last.  You 
are  our  employer,  and  we  have  undertaken  to  carry  you 
through  all  dangers.  You  have  been  kind  and  good  to  us, 
and  our  lives  are  yours.  We  shall  either  all  get  together  to 
the  mission,  or  none  of  us  will  reach  it.  In  all  other  mat- 
ters we  are  ready  to  obey  your  orders,  but  our  lives  are  our 
own  to  dispose  of  as  we  choose." 

They  had  by  this  time  re-entered  their  hut,  and  Pita  at 
once  began  to  examine  the  wall,  and  to  decide  where  it  had 
best  be  cut  through.  After  some  conversation  with  Hurka 
they  determined  to  make  the  hole  in  the  side  wall,  near  the 
rear  corner  of  the  hut. 

' '  They  are  more  likely  to  be  watching  at  the  back, ' '  Hurka 
explained  to  Stephen,  "as  it  is  there  they  will  consider  it 
most  likely  we  should  make  the  attempt  to  escape.  We  can 
begin  the  hole  as  soon  as  night  comes  on,  but  we  must  not 
complete  it  until  the  village  is  quiet.  The  knives  will  make 
no  noise  in  cutting  through  this  soft  stuff,  and  the  moment 


346  WITH    COCHRANE    THE    DAUNTLESS 

the  hole  is  large  enough,  and  the  part  remaining  is  so  thin  that 
we  can  push  it  down,  one  of  us  will  stand,  bow  in  hand, 
ready  to  shoot  any  of  the  watchers  who  may  stop  before  it. 
Once  out,  senor,  do  not  make  straight  for  the  tree,  or  the  men 
at  the  back  of  the  house  will  attack  you.  Turn  sharp  off, 
and  run  along  close  to  the  backs  of  the  next  huts  until  you 
are  fifty  or  sixty  yards  away,  then  strike  out  for  the  tree. ' ' 

Accordingly,  as  soon  as  it  was  dark  the  two  Indians  began 
to  cut  through  the  wall.  When  they  considered  that  they 
were  nearly  through,  they  thrust  the  blades  of  the  knives  in. 
As-  long  as  they  found  the  wall  still  firm  they  continued  to 
remove  further  portions  of  the  earth,  until,  on  pushing  the 
knife  through,  they  found  that  it  moved  freely,  and  knew  that 
they  were  within  half  an  inch  or  so  of  the  outside ;  then  they 
continued  their  work  until  the  hole  was  large  enough  for  them 
to  be  able  to  issue  out  one  at  a  time  as  soon  as  the  thin  skin 
remaining  was  cut  away.  This,  as  they  told  Stephen,  would 
be  but  the  work  of  a  moment,  for,  starting  at  the  top  to- 
gether, they  should  run  their  knives  round  the  edge  of  the 
hole  down  to  the  ground,  and  let  the  whole  of  the  wall  so 
separated  fall  inside  together,  when  they  could  ease  it  down 
noiselessly  to  the  ground.  The  sounds  in  the  village  dimin- 
ished, but  they  could,  by  listening  attentively,  hear  an  occa- 
sional footstep  outside. 

"Will  each  of  them  watch  at  a  given  spot?"  Stephen 
asked. 

"  No,  there  is  no  chance  of  that ;  the  five  or  six  men  on 
guard  will  wander  round  and  round  as  they  please,  sometimes 
separately  and  sometimes  together — more  often  together,  for 
they  have  never  got  over  the  mystery  of  your  arrival,  and 
have,  as  I  have  noticed  several  times  when  I  have  returned 
late,  an  objection  to  coming  near  the  hut.  I  have  often  seen 
them  cross  the  road  to  the  other  side  when  they  came  along, 


IN    BRAZIL  347 

in  order  to  keep  as  far  away  from  the  hut  as  possible.  Of 
course,  we  have  never  given  them  any  explanation  of  your 
coming  here,  but  have  said  that  your  memory  is  weak,  and 
that  all  we  know  is  that  you  were  with  us  at  the  mission,  and 
that  we  found  you  here." 

Presently  Pita  announced  that  the  time  had  come.  He 
handed  his  gun  to  Stephen,  while  Hurka  swung  his  across  his 
back.  Each  of  them  took  up  their  bows,  drew  half  a  dozen 
arrows  from  the  quivers,  and  held  them  in  readiness  for  in- 
stant use.  They  then  placed  the  bows  against  the  wall,  close 
to  the  hole,  opened  their  long  knives  and  thrust  them  through 
the  thin  wall  together,  then  each  swept  his  knife  down  until 
it  reached  the  ground,  and  cut  along  it  until  the  inclosed  strip 
gave  way  and  fell  inwards.  They  caught  it  as  it  moved,  low- 
ered it  gently  down,  and  then  Hurka  crept  through  the  hole 
into  the  open  air. 


CHAPTER  XIX 

IN    BRAZIL 

PITA  followed  him,  while  close  on  the  latter's  heels  Stephen 
came  out,  and  turning  off  at  once  behind  the  next  hut, 
started  at  a  run. 

As  he  did  so  he  caught  the  sound  of  the  twang  of  a  bow- 
string, followed  by  a  stifled  cry  and  a  fall,  then  came  a  loud 
yell,  checked  almost  before  it  was  uttered.  But  the  alarm  had 
been  given,  and  loud  shouts  rose  from  several  throats.  He 
ran,  as  directed,  some  fifty  yards  behind  the  huts,  and  then 
turned  and  struck  off  across  the  open  towards  the  tree.  No 
sooner  had  he  done  so  than  he  felt  the  justice  of  what  the 


348  WITH    COCHRANE    THE    DAUNTLESS 

Indian  had  said.  His  feet  seemed  heavy  and  his  joints  stiff, 
and  it  needed  an  effort  to  maintain  the  speed  at  which  he 
started,  until  he  stopped  at  the  tree,  panting  and  trembling 
from  head  to  foot.  He  had  been  conscious  while  he  ran  of  a 
great  uproar  in  the  village,  but  his  whole  mind  was  centred 
on  his  efforts,  and  it  was  not  until  he  paused  that  he  heard 
the  full  volume  of  the  outcry.  A  hundred  voices  were  shout- 
ing, dogs  were  barking,  and  the  women's  cries  could  be 
heard  in  the  uproar.  Far  away  to  the  left  he  heard  occa- 
sional shouts,  and  it  was  in.  this  direction  that  the  men  of  the 
village  were  evidently  running.  The  two  Indians  had  no 
doubt  led  the  chase  in  the  opposite  direction  to  that  which  he 
had  taken.  Stephen  was  wondering  how  far  they  would  go 
before  turning,  when,  almost  noiselessly,  the  two  men  ran  up 
to  the  tree. 

"We  have  shaken  them  off,"  Hurka  said;  ''there  were 
but  two  who  followed  closely  enough  to  keep  us  in  sight, 
and  our  arrows  soon  stopped  them.  Now  let  us  go. ' ' 

Pita  led  the  way,  Hurka  followed  him,  placing  as  he  did  so 
one  end  of  his  bow  in  Stephen's  hand,  saying,  "  Our  eyes  are 
more  accustomed  to  the  dark  than  yours.  Keep  hold  of  the 
bow  and  follow  me  closely." 

As  soon  as  they  were  well  in  the  forest  the  darkness  was  to 
Stephen  absolute,  and  had  it  not  been  for  the  bow  he  could 
not  have  followed  the  little  Indian,  although  treading  almost 
on  his  heels.  He  appreciated  more  strongly  than  he  had  ever 
done  before  how  much  keener  were  the  faculties  of  the  Indians 
in  some  respects  than  his  own,  for  they  went  along  at  a  brisk 
rate,  making  their  way  through  the  trees  with  as  little  hesita- 
tion as  if  it  had  been  broad  daylight.  Occasionally  there  was 
a  pause  for  an  instant  as  Pita  slashed  through  a  creeper  barring 
his  way. 

"  How  can  he  see  them  ?  "  Stephen  asked. 


IN    BRAZIL  349 

"  He  does  not  see  them,  senor,  he  feels  them.  He  holds 
his  bow  at  arm's-length  before  him,  and  so  touches  even  the 
smallest  of  the  lianas ;  the  large  ones  he  can  see  plainly  enough, 
and  so  could  he  the  small  ones  were  they  level  with  the  eye. 
It  is  those  that  are  but  a  foot  or  two  above  the  ground  that  are 
dangerous. ' ' 

"  It  is  marvellous  to  me  how  you  can  see  anything,  Hurka, 
for  I  cannot  make  out  even  the  outline  of  your  figure." 

"  We  were  born  so,  senor.  Life  in  these  forests  accustoms 
the  eyes  to  see  in  darkness.  It  is  the  same  with  the  wild 
animals  that  run  at  night." 

It  was  not  long  before  Stephen's  breath  began  to  come  in 
short  gasps.  The  perspiration  streamed  from  him,  but  he  held 
on  until  Pita  came  to  a  halt. 

"  We  will  stop  till  you  get  your  breath  again,  senor.  There 
is  no  fear  of  them  to-night,  but  we  must  hold  on  until  morning, 
so  as  to  get  as  long  a  start  as  possible  before  they  can  find 
our  track  and  take  up  the  pursuit.  Until  we  have  light  we 
can  do  nothing  to  disguise  our  trail,  but  we  will  stop  fre- 
quently, and  go  at  a  slower  pace,  so  that  you  shall  not  become 
exhausted.  It  would  never  do  to  wear  you  out  at  the  begin- 
ning of  our  journey." 

All  through  the  night  the  march  was  continued.  They 
stopped  at  frequent  intervals  for  a  minute  or  two,  and  Stephen 
found  himself  able  to  keep  up  with  them  without  any  great 
difficulty,  although  long  before  morning  broke  he  felt  terribly 
exhausted.  At  last  Pita  said  : 

"In  two  hours  it  will  be  dawn.  We  will  wait  here,  sefior, 
and  you  can  take  a  short  sleep  before  we  go  on  again." 

Without  a  word  Stephen  dropped  on  to  the  ground,  and 
almost  instantaneously  went  off  to  sleep.  When  he  awoke  it 
was  broad  daylight.  Hurka  was  beside  him. 

"We  must  be  moving  now,  senor,"  he  said.      "Pita  has 


350  WITH    COCHRANE    THE    DAUNTLESS 

been  away  for  half  an  hour,  and  has  just  signalled  to  me  to 
join  him." 

Stephen  rose  to  his  feet  heavily.  He  felt  stiff  and  sore  all 
over,  but  the  feeling  wore  off  after  he  had  walked  a  short 
distance.  From  time  to  time  a  cry  like  the  note  of  a  bird  was 
heard,  and  towards  this  they  directed  their  steps.  They 
found  Pita  standing  by  the  edge  of  a  stream  some  fifteen 
yards  wide,  and  without  a  word  he  entered  the  water  as  they 
came  up  and  began  to  walk  down  it. 

"  I  should  have  thought,"  Stephen  said  to  Hurka,  "  that  it 
would  be  safer  to  go  the  other  way  for  a  bit,  because  they 
would  naturally  suppose  that  we  should  come  this  way." 

"  That  is  just  the  reason  why  Pita  is  leading  us  down  it," 
he  said.  "  It  is,  of  course,  the  way  we  should  take  to  get 
down  to  the  Madeira,  and  because  it  is  so  they  will  think  that 
we  would  surely  go  the  other  in  order  to  deceive  them.  No 
doubt  some  will  go  up  and  some  will  go  down,  but  in  that  case 
we  shall  not  have  so  many  to  fight. ' ' 

A  mile  further  another  stream  fell  into  that  which  they  were 
following,  and  they  turned  up  this  and  walked  until  they 
came  to  a  bough  some  eight  feet  above  the  water.  Pita 
sprung  up  and  hauled  himself  on  to  it,  then  he  leaned  over  and 
stretched  his  hands  down  to  Stephen,  and,  with  a  strength  the 
latter  had  hardly  given  him  credit  for,  hauled  him  up  beside 
him,  and  then  similarly  aided  Hurka.  They  made  their  way 
along  the  bough  to  the  main  trunk,  then  followed  another 
great  bough  on  the  other  side,  and  dropped  from  its  extremity 
nearly  thirty  yards  away  from  the  bed  of  the  stream  ;  then 
they  struck  off  through  the  wood  until  they  came  upon  another 
stream,  and  after  following  it  for  another  half  an  hour  left  it 
by  another  tree  as  before. 

"  Now  we  can  go  on,"  Pita  said,  "  it  will  take  them  hours 
to  find  our  track. ' ' 


IN    BRAZIL  351 

They  now  continued  their  course  steadily,  Pita  before  they 
started  taking  off  Stephen's  boots  and  wrapping  a  broad  band 
of  soft  leather  he  had  brought  with  him  round  and  round  his 
feet. 

"The  heels  of  your  boots  make  tracks  an  Indian  might 
almost  follow  in  the  dark.  You  had  better  throw  them  into 
the  next  clump  of  bushes  you  come  to  ;  we  can  get  another 
pair  at  the  mission." 

In  the  course  of  the  day  they  crossed  two  other  streams, 
and  at  each  of  them  took  measures  as  before  to  throw  the 
Indians  off  their  track.  They  kept  on  till  nightfall,  and  then 
Stephen  and  Pita  lay  down,  Hurka  saying  that  he  would  watch 
until  midnight. 

"You  don't  think  the  Indians  will  follow  at  night?" 
Stephen  asked. 

"There  is  no  fear  of  that,  senor.  They  dread  the  wild 
beasts ;  there  are  so  many  in  these  forests,  and  they  can  scent 
a  human  being  a  long  distance  away.  We  have  chosen  this 
tree  because,  as  you  see,  the  lower  branch  is  near  the  ground, 
and  it  will  be  easier  to  climb  up  into  it  if  I  give  the  alarm." 

The  next  morning  shortly  after  starting  they  came  to  a 
bank  of  a  stream  larger  than  any  of  those  they  had  passed  on 
the  previous  day.  Here  they  had  a  short  consultation,  and 
then  Hurka  and  Pita  set  to  work  to  cut  down  a  large  number 
of  great  rushes  growing  in  the  water,  taking  care  to  cut  them 
some  inches  below  its  level.  With  the  aid  of  some  creepers 
a  raft  capable  of  sustaining  them  all  was  speedily  made,  and 
on  this  they  took  their  places,  and  the  Indians  having  cut  two 
poles  to  steer  by,  they  pushed  off  into  the  middle  of  the  stream. 
The  current  was  very  sluggish,  and  they  would  have  made  but 
small  way  had  not  the  two  Indians  poled  vigorously.  Stephen 
was  thankful  indeed  for  the  change ;  upon  the  previous  day  he 
had  only  been  enabled  to  keep  up  with  the  greatest  difficulty, 


352  WITH    COCHRANE    THE    DAUNTLESS 

and  had  felt  that  another  day's  labour  would  bring  him  to  a 
stand-still. 

"  They  will  walk  quite  as  fast  as  we  are  going,"  he  said 
presently. 

"  Yes,  senor,  faster  ;  but  they  are  probably  still  far  behind 
us.  They  will,  no  doubt,  find  our  trail  at  the  points  where 
we  have  left  the  streams,  but,  thanks  to  the  pains  we  have  taken 
to  throw  them  off,  will  lose  much  time  in  having  to  search 
very  carefully  up  and  down  every  stream  they  come  to.  It 
will  be  the  same  if  they  trace  us  to  the  spot  we  started  from 
on  this  raft ;  some  must  go  up  and  some  down,  and  both  sides 
of  the  stream  must  be  carefully  searched.  We  are  going  nearly 
as  fast  as  they  will  be  able  to  do ;  besides,  now  we  can  travel 
at  night.  If  they  do  not  overtake  us  by  evening,  of  which  I 
think  there  is  no  chance,  we  shall  be  so  far  ahead  by  next 
morning  that  we  shall  be  perfectly  safe." 

The  Indians  seemed  tireless  ;  all  through  the  next  night, 
whenever  Stephen  awoke  he  found  them  still  at  work.  Soon 
after  daybreak  they  stopped  at  a  spot  where  there  was 
another  great  bed  of  rushes,  numbers  of  these  they  cut  down, 
largely  increasing  the  size  of  the  raft,  and  adding  to  its 
stability.  It  was  now  some  twelve  feet  long  and  eight  wide, 
and  composed  of  a  great  bed  of  rushes  two  feet  deep,  and 
which,  with  their  weight  upon  it,  floated  more  than  a  foot 
above  the  water.  Four  days  later  they  emerged  from  the 
forest  on  to  the  Madeira.  The  stream  by  which  they  had 
corne  had  received  on  its  way  so  many  accessions  that  it  was 
now  a  river  of  some  size.  It  took  them  four  days  of  hard 
work  to  make  their  way  up  to  the  mission-station,  although 
the  distance  was  but  fifty  miles,  and  it  was  only  by  keeping 
close  to  the  shore,  and  utilizing  every  eddy  and  back-water, 
that  they  succeeded  in  stemming  the  current. 

The  mission  had   now  its  full  number  of  occupants,  and 


IN    BRAZIL  353 

they  were  received  with  the  greatest  kindness.  Their  effects 
had  all  been  carefully  stowed  away  in  case  they  should  ever 
return,  although  none  thought  that  there  was  the  least  proba- 
bility of  their  doing  so,  as  nothing  had  been  heard  of  them 
since  six  months  before,  when  an  Indian  brought  a  message 
from  Pita  begging  a  supply  of  quinine  for  his  white  companion. 

They  waited  some  days  at  the  mission.  Stephen  had  re- 
gained much  of  his  strength  during  his  journey  on  the  raft, 
and  was  willing  to  make  a  start  at  once;  but  the  good 
fathers  of  the  mission  insisted  upon  his  staying  with  them  for 
a  few  days,  and  he  felt  that  he  benefited  a  great  deal  by  the 
good  food  and  wine  they  gave  him.  There  was  no  longer 
any  occasion  for  their  original  raft,  and  although  it  had  done 
them  good  service  they  were  all  glad  when  they  took  their 
places  in  the  canoe  and  started  with  a  steady  stroke  down  the 
river.  It  was  no  longer  a  rapid  stream,  and  the  falls,  though 
still  grand,  were  as  nothing  in  comparison  to  the  scene  they 
presented  when  the  river  was  in  full  flood.  Still,  there  was 
enough  stream  to  help  them  materially,  and  to  allow  the  Ind- 
ians to  lay  in  their  paddles  at  times  and  let  the  boat  drift  by 
itself. 

At  the  mission-house  they  had  taken  in  a  supply  of  food 
sufficient  to  last  them  to  Barra,  and  as  they  were  able  to 
catch  as  many  fish  as  they  could  eat,  they  fared  well.  The 
journey  took  them  three  weeks  of  somewhat  monotonous 
travelling.  There  was  no  change  in  the  scenery,  a  thick  for- 
est bordered  the  river  on  both  sides;  but  as  they  got  lower 
down  there  were  clearings  and  small  villages,  and  they  met  a 
few  boats  passing  between  these  or  going  up  to  the  mission. 
It  was  a  glad  day  indeed  to  Stephen  when  the  great  river 
entered  the  still  mightier  Amazon,  which  was  here  several 
miles  wide.  Crossing  it  they  made  their  way  to  Barra,  a 
place  of  considerable  size,  with  churches  and  many  large 


354  WITH    COCHRANE    THE    DAUNTLESS 

buildings.  His  long  companionship  with  the  two  Indians 
had,  by  this  time,  made  Stephen  as  familiar  with  the  Peru- 
vian Spanish  as  with  the  Chilian,  and  enabled  him  to  pass 
with  great  advantage  among  the  Portuguese -speaking  Brazil- 
ians as  a  native  of  Peru,  since,  had  he  been  known  to  be  a 
Chilian,  they  might  have  doubted  whether  he  was  a  good 
Catholic,  and  he  would,  moreover,  be  viewed  with  disfavour 
by  the  Portuguese  officers  as  one  of  a  nation  who  had  rebelled 
against  Spain,  his  lawful  master.  He  therefore,  on  landing, 
made  his  way  to  an  hotel  close  by,  representing  himself  as  a 
traveller  who  had  come  down  from  Peru  by  the  Madeira,  and 
who  wished  to  continue  his  journey  down  the-  Amazon  to 
Para. 

Stephen's  next  step  was  to  purchase  some  clothes ;  those  in 
which  he  left  Peru,  as  well  as  the  suit  in  the  wallets,  were 
unfit  to  wear.  The  first  had  remained  at  the  mission  during 
his  long  absence ;  he  had  indeed  discarded  it  as  worn  out, 
but  was  glad  to  find  it  there  on  his  return,  for  the  other  suit 
had  been  torn  into  absolute  rags  during  his  journey  through 
the  woods.  He  had  no  difficulty  in  obtaining  country  -  cut 
garments,  and  his  host,  who  had  looked  somewhat  doubtfully 
upon  him  on  his  first  arrival,  was  evidently  relieved  in  his 
mind  when  he  came  down  from  his  room  in  his  new  purchases. 

"  How  are  you  thinking  of  travelling,  senor?  Do  you  de- 
sire to  have  a  boat  to  yourself,  or  would  you  travel  in  a  pub- 
lic boat?  There  are  many  such  constantly  going  up  and 
down  the  river.  Some  go  through  to  Para,  but  the  greater 
number  stop  far  short  of  it,  making  voyages  only  two  or  three 
hundred  miles  up  or  down,  and  stopping  at  all  the  villages  ; 
these  are  cheaper  than  the  long-distance  boats,  and  you  would 
have  no  difficulty  in  exchanging  into  another  when  it  reaches 
its  furthest  point." 

"  I  do  not  care  which  it  is,"  Stephen  replied,  "  and  would 


IN    BRAZIL  355 

as  soon  take  a  passage  in  a  local  craft  as  in  another.  Indeed, 
there  is  the  advantage  that  if  one  does  not  find  one's  com- 
panions agreeable  one  can  make  a  change  and  try  one's  luck 
in  another  boat." 

"Then,  if  you  are  content  with  that,  senor,  you  will  not 
have  long  to  wait.  If  not  to-morrow,  on  the  next  day  there 
is  sure  to  be  a  boat  going  down  the  river." 

"  I  also  wish  to  take  passages  up  the  river  for  these  Indians, 
who  have  served  me  most  faithfully  and  well,  and  whom  I  re- 
gard as  my  friends." 

"There  will  be  no  difficulty  about  that  either,  senor. 
Boats  go  occasionally  from  here  up  to  the  frontier,  and 
sometimes  beyond  it." 

Stephen  talked  the  matter  over  with  Pita  and  Hurka,  and 
found  that  they  would  prefer  to  make  a  bargain  for  themselves 
with  some  native  boat  carrying  merchandise. 

"  We  shall  be  more  at  home  so,  senor;  we  shall  go  at  a 
much  lower  price  than  it  would  cost  by  a  boat  carrying  pas- 
sengers ;  indeed,  by  offering  to  help  at  the  oars  when  the  cur- 
rent is  strong,  we  shall  probably  pay  nothing  whatever  for 
our  passage,  as  they  are  glad  enough  of  help  going  up  stream. 
All  we  shall  have  to  do  will  be  to  buy  our  own  provisions  at 
the  villages  we  stop  at,  just  as  the  boatmen  will  do." 

"  You  must  give  me  an  address  where  a  letter  will  find  you, 
Pita.  Is  there  anyone  at  Lima  to  whose  care  I  could  send 
it?" 

"  Yes;  Juan  Fernandez,  a  merchant,  in  Santa  Maria  Street 
of  Callao,  number  ten,  knows  me  well,  and  has  several  times 
recommended  me  to  traders  and  gold-seekers  as  a  trustworthy 
guide,  and  if  you  address  Pita,  Indian  guide,  care  of  Sefior 
Juan  Fernandez,  he  will,  I  know,  keep  it  for  me  until  I  call 
upon  him." 

"You  will  understand,  Pita,  that  in  paying  you  and  Hurka 


356  WITH    COCHRANE    THE    DAUNTLESS 

only  the  balance  of  wages  agreed  on,  I  do  so  because  I  have 
no  more  money  with  me  than  is  needed  to  carry  me  home ; 
it  in  no  way  represents  the  deep  obligation  which  I  feel  tow- 
ards you  both." 

"  Say  no  more  of  that,  senor ;  we  have  done  our  duty,  and 
should  have  done  as  much  had  you  been  one  to  whom  we  felt 
bound  in  no  way  beyond  our  agreement,  but  with  you  it  has 
been  altogether  different.  Had  we  been  men  of  your  own 
race  you  could  not  have  treated  us  more  kindly.  We  have 
been  comrades  and  companions.  If  we  saved  your  life,  you 
must  remember  that  you  saved  mine  ;  say  nothing,  therefore, 
of  an  obligation.  Hurka  and  I  will  always  remember  our 
journey  with  you  as  one  of  the  most  pleasant  that  we  ever 
took.  The  toil  has  not  been  great,  for  we  always  went  with 
the  stream,  while  as  to  danger,  we  have  both  passed  through 
many  vastly  greater  perils.  If  you  are  satisfied  with  our  ser- 
vices we  are  content,  and  more  than  content." 

Two  days  later  Stephen  took  his  place  in  a  large  boat,  with 
a  long  cabin  on  deck,  carrying  a  mast  and  great  sail.  He 
parted  with  the  Indians  with  deep  regret,  and  watched  them 
as,  after  looking  after  the  boat  until  it  had  gone  far  down, 
they  turned  and  went  along  the  shore  to  a  little  craft  on 
which  they  had  arranged  for  a  passage,  and  which  was  to  start 
half  an  hour  after  he  sailed.  Then  Stephen  turned  round  to 
look  at  his  fellow-passengers.  One  end  of  the  deck  was  re- 
served for  the  whites.  Here  was  a  priest  who  had  been  up  at 
Barra  on  a  visit,  two  traders  who  had  disposed  of  their  mer- 
chandise and  were  returning  to  Para,  an  old  Portuguese  official, 
his  wife,  and  two  daughters,  who  had,  he  learnt,  been  staying 
for  a  month  with  a  married  daughter- at  Barra;  besides  these, 
there  were  three  or  four  petty  traders,  who  had  come  up  from 
villages  on  the  bank  to  replenish  their  stock  of  goods. 

In  the  fore-part  of  the  vessel  were  fully  a  score  of  natives, 


IN    BRAZIL  357 

among  whom  were  several  women.  An  awning  was  extended 
over  the  after  part  of  the  upper  deck,  and  it  was  not  long  be- 
fore Stephen  entered  into  conversation  with  his  fellow-pas- 
sengers. Hitherto  he  had  thought  of  nothing  but  obtaining 
his  passage,  laying  in  a  stock  of  provisions — for  he  was  warned 
that  each  passenger  catered  for  himself — and  saying  last  words 
to  his  Indian  companions ;  he  had,  therefore,  had  no  time  to 
obtain  news  of  what  was  going  on.  After  telling  them  that 
he  had  come  down  the  Madeira,  and  had  been  laid  up  for 
more  than  eight  months  by  illness,  he  said  to  the  priest : 

"  I  have  now  been  some  sixteen  months  away  from  all 
news,  and  feel  like  a  man  who  has  dropped  from  the  moon." 

"Then  you  are  ignorant,"  the  priest  said  in  surprise, 
"  that  the  southern  portion  of  Brazil  has  declared  Dom  Pedro 
emperor. ' ' 

' '  Dom  Pedro  !  ' '  Stephen  repeated  in  surprise.  ' '  Is  his 
father,  King  John,  then  dead?  " 

"  No,  he  has  returned  to  Portugal.  You  know  that  he 
was  driven  from  that  country  by  the  French,  and  retired 
here  and  ruled  over  Brazil." 

"  That  I  know,"  Stephen  said  ;  "also  that  there  were  in- 
cessant plots  and  insurrections." 

"  That  was  so.  Well,  the  war  being  over  in  Europe,  the 
Portuguese  wanted  their  king  back  among  them  again,  and 
last  year  King  John  returned  there,  leaving  Dom  Pedro  as 
his  lieutenant  and  regent.  The  Portuguese  having  got  back 
their  king  wanted  to  bring  Brazil  back  to  its  former  position 
as  subject  to  Portugal.  This  provoked  a  great  opposition  in 
the  southern  provinces,  and  Dom  Pedro  was  persuaded  to 
throw  off  his  allegiance  to  his  father.  In  October  the  inde- 
pendence of  the  colony  was  publicly  declared,  and  by  this 
time  Dom  Pedro  has  probably  assumed  the  title  of  Emperor 
of  Brazil.  How  long  he  will  maintain  the  title  I  am  unable 


358  WITH   COCHRANE   THE   DAUNTLESS 

to  say.  Our  northern  provinces  of  Para,  Bahia,  and  Maran- 
ham  are  still  Portuguese,  and  are  held  by  a  large  number  of 
Portuguese  troops.  They  have  a  strong  navy,  which  keeps 
the  sea  and  compels  the  few  ships  of  Dom  Pedro  to  remain  in 
port  under  shelter  of  the  guns  of  their  batteries.  There  can 
be  but  one  end  to  it.  The  insurrection  will  be  crushed, 
Dom  Pedro  sent  to  Europe  as  a  prisoner,  and  all  who  sup- 
ported him  executed,  or,  if  their  lives  are  spared,  all  their 
possessions  will  be  confiscated. 

"  Truly  it  is  a  sad  time  for  Brazil.  Everywhere  there  are 
two  parties,  the  one  for  independence,  the  other  for  the 
Portuguese  ;  but  such  as  hold  to  the  former  naturally  keep 
silent.  What  may  happen  in  the  future  no  man  knows ;  but 
at  present  none  have  any  hope  that  the  southern  provinces 
can  resist  the  great  force  the  Portuguese  can  bring  against 
them  by  sea  and  land.  The  mass  of  the  people  take  no  in- 
terest in  the  struggle.  The  natives,  who  are  indeed  the  mass, 
care  nothing  whether  they  are  governed  from  Lisbon  or  from 
Rio ;  they  have  to  pay  their  taxes  whoever  is  master.  Of  the 
whites,  those  families  who  have  long  been  settled  here  are 
silent,  that  is  to  say,  they  are  for  independence ;  while  those 
who  have  relations  and  connections  in  Portugal  vehemently 
and  loudly  support  its  cause,  and  persecute  all  whom  they  sus- 
pect of  entertaining  opinions  to  the  contrary.  But  all  these 
things  concern  the  population  of  the  great  towns ;  we  in  the 
interior  take  but  little  heed  of  them.  Here  we  cultivate  our 
fields,  we  say  our  masses,  we  carry  on  our  trade,  and  politics 
interest  us  but  little.  If  they  do  interest  us,  at  least  we  do 
not  speak  of  them.  Silence  is  golden,  my  son,  as  you  have 
doubtless  learnt  for  yourself  in  Peru.  How  came  so  young  a 
man  as  you  to  undertake  so  terrible  a  journey  as  you  have 
made?"  he  asked,  changing  the  conversation. 

"  It  may  be,  father,  that  I  did  not  sufficiently  recognize 


IN    BRAZIL  359 

that  silence  was  golden.  In  any  case  my  friends  recom- 
mended me  to  take  a  long  journey,  because  they  thought  it 
would  be  better  and  safer  for  me  to  travel  to  Brazil ;  and  as 
there  were  reasons  against  my  taking  a  passage  by  sea,  there 
was  nothing  for  me  but  to  strike  across  the  continent." 

"  You  must  possess  courage  and  resolution  to  have  vent- 
ured out  on  such  a  journey.  Nevertheless,  I  can  understand 
that  your  risk  was  greater  had  you  remained.  You  have 
heard,  I  suppose,  that  Peru  is  now  independent?" 

"No,  indeed,"  Stephen  replied.  "Was  there  a  great 
battle?" 

"  There  was  no  fighting  at  all.  The  Chilian  fleet  so 
hemmed  in  the  Spaniards  that  neither  supplies  nor  reinforce- 
ments could  reach  them,  so  they  agreed  to  evacuate  the  coun- 
try. San  Martin  was  made  dictator,  or  rather  made  himself 
so;  but  so  great  were  the  oppressions  and  tyrannies  of  him- 
self and  his  officers  that  there  was  a  revolution  some  months 
ago,  and  San  Martin  had  to  fly  to  Chili,  where  he  has  since 
remained,  as  far  as  I  know." 

"  It  served  him  right, ' '  Stephen  said.  ' '  He  was  an  ignorant, 
vain,  and  traitorous  brute,  and  if  the  Peruvians  had  hung  him 
he  would  only  have  got  his  deserts. ' ' 

"  I  can  understand,  my  son,"  the  priest  said  with  a  smile, 
"  that  Peru  was  not  a  healthy  place  for  you;  and  I  should 
doubt  whether,  if  you  come  to  take  an  interest  in  politics  here, 
Brazil  will  be  a  safer  place  of  residence  for  you  than  Peru." 

The  voyage  was  pleasant  but  very  slow.  When  the  wind 
was  favourable  a  great  sail  was  hoisted ;  when  it  was  not,  the 
boat  drifted  down  the  river.  The  passengers  passed  the  time 
away  in  eating  many  meals,  consisting  principally  of  the  bread 
and  fruit  they  purchased  at  the  villages  where  the  boat  stopped, 
and  in  sipping  coffee  and  smoking  innumerable  cigarettes. 
Of  an  evening  the  three  ladies  brought  out  guitars,  and  there 


360  WITH    COCHRANE    THE   DAUNTLESS 

was  much  singing  by  them  and  the  male  passengers,  several  of 
whom  were  able  to  take  a  turn  at  the  musical  instruments. 
Lines  were  put  over,  and  occasionally  fish  caught.  So  week 
after  week  passed.  The  passengers  changed  frequently,  but 
Stephen  found  all  to  be  cheerful  and  sociable.  Twice  he  had 
to  change  his  craft  for  another  of  precisely  the  same  size,  rig, 
and  slowness.  The  shores  afforded  but  slight  amusement, 
being  low,  and  for  the  most  part  wooded,  and  indeed  the 
river  was  for  a  time  so  wide  that  the  land  on  either  hand  was 
invisible.  Once  or  twice  they  met  with  strong  winds,  and 
the  waves  got  up  rapidly.  The  craft  rolled  heavily,  and  the 
passengers  were  for  the  most  part  prostrated  by  terror  and 
sea-sickness. 

At  length  after  two  months'  passage  they  entered  that 
branch  of  the  great  river  upon  which  Para  is  situated,  and  a 
few  days  later  moored  alongside  the.  quays  of  the  town. 
Stephen  at  once  went  to  an  hotel,  gave  a  Peruvian  name,  and 
then,  having  indulged  in  a  bath  and  a  very  comfortable  meal, 
sallied  out  into  the  town.  In  the  streets  were  large  numbers 
of  Portuguese  soldiers ;  while  a  short  distance  down  the  bay 
several  fine  ships  of  war  lay  at  anchor.  A  good  many  mer- 
chant ships  were  moored  alongside  the  quays,  and  Stephen 
determined  on  the  following  day  to  ascertain  about  them. 
On  his  return  to  the  hotel  he  found  a  Spanish  official  talking 
to  the  landlord. 

"This  is  the  gentleman,"  the  latter  said,  motioning  to 
Stephen. 

' '  I  have  to  ask  you  for  your  papers, ' '  he  said  politely. 

"I  have  none,  sen  or,"  Stephen  replied.  "I  have  just 
arrived  from  Peru,  having  come  down  by  the  river  Madeira 
into  the  Amazon." 

"But  how  did  you  pass  the  frontier  without  papers?  "  the 
official  said  in  an  altogether  changed  manner. 


IN   BRAZIL  361 

"  Simply  because  there  is  no  frontier  line  on  the  Madeira, 
and  so  far  as  I  know  no  Portuguese  official  or  soldier  within  at 
least  fifteen  hundred  miles.  At  any  rate,  I  have  never  been 
asked  for  papers  until  now." 

"But  how  is  it  that  you  started  without  papers?"  the 
official  said  sternly. 

'•'It  was  a  matter  that  I  never  thought  of,  sefior.  I  had 
been  engaged  in  a  quarrel,  and  the  authorities  wanted  me  to 
leave.  My  friends  furnished  me  with  money,  and  I  left  at  an 
hour's  notice.  I  have  gone  through  several  perils  by  the  way, 
was  captured  by  Indians,  who  took  all  that  I  possessed,  and 
would  certainly  have  taken  the  papers  had  I  had  them  about  me. 
I  was  nearly  killed  and  eaten,  and  was  only  saved  by  the  cour- 
age and  fidelity  of  two  native  guides  who  accompanied  me. ' ' 

"  Well,  senor,  this  is  not  a  time  when  strangers  can  travel 
about  Brazil  without  papers.  You  may  be  an  emissary  of  the 
usurper,  Dom  Pedro." 

"  If  I  had  been,"  Stephen  said  quietly,  "I  should  have 
come  up  the  coast,  and  should  hardly  have  gone  round  by 
Peru  and  returned  here  after  a  journey  that  has  occupied  me 
some  eighteen  months.  It  was  only  after  I  arrived  at  Barra 
that  I  learned  that  King  John  had  left  the  country,  and  that 
his  son  Dom  Pedro  had  been  appointed  regent." 

The  officer  looked  doubtful.  "  Your  story  may  be  a  true 
one,"  he  said.  "  I  shall  lay  it  before  the  authorities.  Until 
you  hear  their  decision  you  will  remain  here  in  the  hotel." 

"  I  am  quite  willing  to  do  so,"  Stephen  said.  "In  the 
meantime,  senor,  you  will  hear  from  the  captain  of  the  Bahia, 
now  lying  at  the  wharf,  that  I  have  come  at  least  five  hundred 
miles  down  the  Amazon  to  this  place,  and  there  is  one  Senor 
Vaquez,  who  is  now  in  this  hotel,  or  is  at  any  rate  putting  up 
here,  who  came  down  with  me  all  the  way  from  Barra." 

The  official  at  once  sent  upstairs  for  the  trader,  who  was 


362  WITH    COCHRANE    THE    DAUNTLESS 

fortunately  in  his  room,  and  who  at  once  confirmed  Stephen's 
statement,  that  they  had  travelled  together  from  Barra,  and 
had  left  there  some  nine  weeks  before. 

"  This  must  be  taken,  senor,"  the  officer  said,  "  to  relieve 
you  from  any  suspicion  of  having  come  here  from  the  insurgent 
provinces.  At  the  same  time  there  remains  the  fact  that  you 
have  entered  Brazil  without  passports  or  other  necessary 
papers,  a  matter  which  will  have  to  be  considered  by  the 
authorities.  At  the  same  time,  pending  their  decision,  there 
will  be  no  occasion  for  you  to  confine  yourself  to  the  hotel,  as 
the  offence  can  hardly  be  considered  a  very  serious  one. ' ' 

Two  hours  later  Stephen  was  sent  for  to  the  governor's. 
Here  a  few  more  questions  were  put  to  him  as  to  the  absence 
of  papers,  and  he  was  then  asked  what  were  his  intentions 
as  to  the  future. 

"By  your  own  confession,"  the  officer  who  interrogated 
him  said,  "you  are  a  fugitive  from  justice,  and  although  we 
do  not  concern  ourselves  with  crimes  committed  beyond  our 
frontiers,  we  must  concern  ourselves  with  the  movements  of 
fugitives  from  justice  who  enter  Portuguese  territory  without 
proper  papers." 

"I  intend  to  take  ship  to  Europe,"  Stephen  replied. 
"  My  family  have  business  connections  there.  I  shall  probably 
stay  there  until  I  hear  that  I  can  return  home." 

"  Very  well,  senor.  So  long  as  you  remain  here  you  will  be 
under  surveillance,  but  otherwise  your  movements  will  not  be 
interfered  with." 

Stephen  bowed  and  withdrew.  At  the  hotel  that  evening 
he  learned  news  that  surprised  him  and  altered  his  plans. 
Some  officers  who  had  dined  there  were  talking  together,  and 
Stephen,  who  was  sitting  near  them  drinking  his  coffee  and 
smoking  his  cigarette,  heard  to  his  surprise  the  name  of  Lord 
Cochrane. 


IN    BRAZIL  363 

"  There  can  be  no  doubt  as  to  the  truth  of  the  news,"  one 
said.  "Not  only  has  this  English  adventurer  accepted  the 
offer  of  Dom  Pedro  to  take  command  of  his  fleet,  but  they  say 
he  is  already  on  his  way,  and  is  expected  to  arrive  at  Rio  in  a 
few  weeks.  I  am  afraid  that  he  will  give  us  some  trouble." 

"Not  he,"  another  said  scornfully.  "One  of  our  ships 
could  dispose  of  the  whole  of  the  insurgent  fleet.  They  are, 
as  we  know  from  our  friends  there,  but  armed  merchantmen, 
the  Pedro  Primeiro  being  the  only  real  war-ship  among  them. 
Moreover,  their  equipments  are  villainously  bad,  and  their 
manning  worse,  the  only  real  sailors  they  have  being  our 
countrymen,  who  will  bring  the  ships  over  to  us  when  the  first 
gun  is  .fired.  Even  the  Englishman  can  do  nothing  with  such 
ships  as  these  against  three  well-appointed  fleets  like  ours. ' ' 

"  He  did  wonders  on  the  other  side,"  one  of  the  other  offi- 
cers said. 

"I  grant  you  he  did,  but  the  odds  were  nothing  like  so 
great.  The  Chilians  are  better  sailors  by  far  than  the  people 
here,  and  could  at  least  be  relied  upon  to  be  faithful.  I  should 
think  it  likely  that  he  will  throw  up  his  command  in  disgust 
as  soon  as  he  sees  what  this  so-called  fleet  is,  andxhow  hopeless 
it  is  to  struggle  against  such  tremendous  odds. ' ' 

"  I  hope  that  it  may  be  so,  major.  I  own  the  force  of  your 
arguments,  and  the  apparent  hopelessness  of  any  attempt  to 
meet  us  at  sea;  but  after  what  he  did  on  the  other  side  I  can- 
not but  think  that  he  will  at  least  give  us  some  trouble,  and 
at  any  rate  make  our  conquest  of  the  insurgent  provinces  less 
easy  than  we  have  anticipated.  The  man's  reputation  alone 
will  inspire  even  those  who  regard  their  position  as  most  hope- 
less, with  some  sort  of  energy.  Hitherto  I  have  never  thought 
that  there  would  be  any  resistance  whatever,  but  anticipated 
that  they  would  surrender  as  soon  as  our  fleet  appeared  off 
their  shores  and  our  troops  landed ;  but  I  think  now  that  this 


364  WITH    COCHRANE   THE    DAUNTLESS 

Englishman  may  infuse  some  of  his  own  mad  spirit  into  these 
indolent  Brazilians,  and  that  they  will  make  at  least  a  show 
of  resistance." 

"All  the  worse  for  them,"  the  captain  laughed.  "There 
will  only  be  so  many  more  confiscations  and  so  much  more 
plunder  for  the  troops.  I  hope  myself  that  they  will  resist, 
for  otherwise  we  shall  gain  but  little  prize-money  or  plunder." 

"I  think  we  shall  get  plenty  of  both  in  any  case,"  the 
other  said.  "  Two-thirds  of  the  people  down  there  are  rebels, 
and  whether  there  is  resistance  or  not  their  possessions  of  all 
kinds  will  be  justly  forfeited." 

"That  is  so;  but  it  is  the  government  who  will  forfeit 
them,  and  but  a  small  proportion  indeed  will  fall  to  the  share 
of  the  army  and  navy. ' ' 

The  conversation  then  turning  upon  other  subjects,  Stephen 
rose  and  strolled  out  of  the  room,  and  going  down  to  the 
wharf  seated  himself  on  a  balk  of  timber  to  think  the  matter 
out.  That  Lord  Cochrane  should  have  been  driven  to  resign 
his  position  in  Chili  he  could  well  understand,  for  he  had 
wondered  many  times  that  he  put  up  with  the  treatment  that 
he  received  and  the  utter  ingratitude  that  had  been  the  sole 
reward  of  his  great  services ;  but  it  was  singular  indeed  that 
just  as  he  himself  arrived  on  the  eastern  coast  of  the  continent 
he  should  receive  the  news  that  Cochrane  would  ere  long 
appear  on  the  coast  to  take  command  of  the  Brazilian  fleet. 
Of  course,  now  his  plans  would  be  changed,  and  instead  of 
going  to  England  he  should  endeavour  to  make  his  way  down 
to  Rio,  and  there  join  the  admiral. 

The  question  was  how  it  was  to  be  done  ?  The  journey 
by  land  would  be  out  of  the  question  ;  the  distance  was  al- 
most as  vast  as  that  he  had  already  travelled,  and  he  would 
be  exposed  to  constant  questioning.  Upon  the  other  hand , 
it  was  certain  that  no  ships  would  be  sailing  from  Para  to 


IN    BRAZIL  365 

Rio.  He  might  get  down  to  Bahia,  but  the  same  difficulty 
would  present  itself.  It  seemed  to  him  that  there  was  but 
one  possible  method  of  reaching  Rio,  namely  to  take  pas- 
sage by  ship  to  the  Cape  de  Verde  Islands,  and  there  to 
take  another  ship  bound  for  Rio.  The  distance  was  great, 
but  under  favourable  circumstances  the  journey  might  be 
made  in  a  few  weeks. 

The  next  morning  he  was  early  down  at  the  wharf.  There 
were  several  ships  lading  for  Europe,  but  one  of  them  was 
English,  and  this  he  learned  on  going  on  board  would,  unless 
driven  east  by  stress  of  weather,  make  for  the  Azores  direct 
without  touching  at  St.  Vincent.  There  were,  however,  two 
Portuguese  vessels  that  would  touch  at  Cape  de  Verde,  and 
would  stay  some  days  there.  One  of  these  would  start  the 
next  day. 

In  this  he  secured  a  passage  forward  for  a  very  small  sum, 
on  his  saying  that  he  knew  something  of  the  sea,  and  was 
willing  to  make  himself  useful.  He  had  only  now  to  purchase 
a  few  rough  clothes  suitable  for  the  voyage,  and  he  was  ready 
for  the  start.  The  time  the  voyage  would  take  did  not  much 
trouble  him.  It  might  be  a  month  or  six  weeks  yet  before 
the  admiral  reached  Brazil ;  and  if  what  was  said  of  the 
fleet  were  true,  the  work  of  getting  it  fit  for  sea  would  be  a 
long  one,  as  his  experience  in  Chili  had  taught  him.  Even, 
then,  if  the  voyage  was  much  longer  than  he  expected,  he 
might  still  be  in  time  to  join  the  admiral  before  he  sailed. 
He  went  on  board  that  night,  and  in  the  morning  put  on  his 
rough  clothes  and  assisted  to  make  sail.  In  a  short  time  the 
vessel  dropped  down  the  river,  and  in  a  few  hours  was  fairly 
out  at  sea. 

Stephen  messed  with  the  crew  forward,  and  seeing  his 
readiness  to  assist,  and  his  handiness  when  aloft,  he  soon 
became  popular  with  them,  though  they  constantly  expressed 


366  WITH    COCHRANE    THE    DAUNTLESS 

their  surprise  that  a  Peruvian  should  be  so  good  a  sailor.  The 
wind  was  favourable  and  steady,  and  although  the  vessel  was 
becalmed  for  three  or  four  days,  she  dropped  anchor  in  the 
port  of  Santiago  three  weeks  after  leaving  Para.  The  mate 
of  the  vessel  had  been  very  friendly  with  Stephen  during  the 
voyage,  and  said  to  him  the  day  before  they  arrived,  that  if 
he  wished  to  go  on  to  Europe  he  was  sure  that  the  captain 
would  give  him  a  free  passage,  as  he  was  as  good  a  hand  as 
the  best  of  the  crew. 

"To  tell  you  the  truth,  senor,"  Stephen  said,  "I  don't 
want  to  get  to  Europe,  but  to  Rio.  I  have  friends  there  who 
will  give  me  employment,  but  the  only  way  that  I  could  see 
to  manage  it  was  to  come  here  and  take  a  passage  in  the  first 
ship  bound  there." 

"  Very  well.  I  will  inquire  directly  we  get  in  if  there  is  a 
ship  in  harbour  bound  there,  and  if  so  you  shall  be  rowed 
straight  on  board,  which  will  save  you  the  expense  of  living 
on  shore,  and  perhaps  a  lot  of  bother  with  the  authorities, 
who  are  always  prying  into  people's  business." 

There  were  eight  or  ten  vessels  in  harbour  when  they  ar- 
rived ;  and  the  mate,  after  going  ashore,  brought  back  word 
that  one  was  a  British  ship  bound  for  Rio. 

"  She  will  probably  sail  in  the  morning,"  the  mate  said  ; 
"  and  as  the  port  officials  have  already  been  on  board  and 
checked  off  the  passengers,  we  can  take  you  off  after  dark 
without  risk  of  any  bother. ' ' 

Accordingly,  as  soon  as  it  was  dark  two  hands  rowed 
Stephen  across  to  the  English  barque. 

"What  do  you  want,  my  man?"  the  mate  asked  when 
he  stepped  on  deck. 

"I  want  a  passage  to  Rio,"  Stephen  replied  in  English. 
"I  am  a  sailor  and  am  ready  to  work  my  way  if  the 
money  I  have  is  not  sufficient  to  pay  for  a  passage.  I  do 


IN    BRAZIL  367 

not  look  like  it  at  present,  but  I  am  one  of  Lord  Coch- 
rane's  officers,  and  as  he  is  now  either  at  Rio  or  within  a 
short  distance  of  it,  I  wish  to  join  him  there." 

The  mate  went  into  the  captain's  cabin,  and  on  coming 
out  again  asked  Stephen  to  follow  him.  The  captain  looked 
at  him  attentively. 

"  This  is  rather  a  strange  yarn  of  yours." 
"  It  is  a  strange  one,  captain,  but  it  is  true." 
"  If  you  are  one  of  Cochrane's  officers  what  are  you  doing 
here  ?  and  why  are  you  masquerading  in   that  dress  ?     Have 
you  already  served  with  him?  " 

"  I  was  his  flag-lieutenant  on  the  Chilian  coast." 
The  captain  repeated  incredulously  :   "  Why,  I  should  not 
guess  you  to  be  above  twenty." 

"  That  is  about  my  age,  sir ;  but  what  I  say  is  nevertheless 
the  fact.  My  story  is  too  long  to  tell  you  now  ;  but,  briefly, 
I  was  wounded  in  the  cutting  out  of  the  Esmeralda,  and  was 
sent  back  to  be  cured  at  Valparaiso.  On  my  way  up  in  a 
coasting  craft  to  rejoin,  I  was  wrecked  on  the  Peruvian  coast 
and  made  prisoner.  I  escaped  by  the  aid  of  friends,  and  find- 
ing it  impossible  to  make  my  way  down  to  Chili,  I  crossed 
the  Andes  and  came  down  by  the  great  rivers  to  Para.  There 
I  heard  that  Lord  Cochrane  was  about  to  assume  the  com- 
mand of  the  Brazilian  fleet.  It  was  absolutely  impossible  to 
make  my  way  there  direct,  either  by  land  or  sea,  and  I  there- 
fore took  passage  here  in  that  Portuguese  lying  a  hundred 
yards  away,  and  now  want  to  be  taken  on  to  Rio.  The 
stock  of  money  with  which  I  started  is  reduced  to  twenty 
pounds.  I  must  have  something  when  I  land,  as  the  admiral 
may  not  have  arrived  ;  but  I  am  ready  to  pay  fifteen  for  my 
passage,  and  equally  willing,  if  that  is  not  sufficient,  to  work 
my  way  before  the  mast." 

"Well,  sir,"  the  captain  said,  "if  you  are  oneofCoch- 


368 

rane's  officers  I  shall  be  proud  to  carry  you  without  any 
charge  for  the  passage ;  but  you  can,  if  you  like,  pay  five 
pounds  for  the  cost  of  your  food,  which,  as  it  belongs  to  the 
owner,  I  have  no  right  to  give  away.  Are  the  clothes  you 
stand  in  all  your  kit  ?  " 

"  No ;  I  have  a  bundle  on  deck  with  another  and  some- 
what more  respectable  suit.  I  bought  it  at  Bahia,  and  al- 
though it  is  hardly  the  dress  one  would  choose  on  board  a 
ship,  it  is  at  least  respectable,  being  that  of  a  Brazilian  mer- 
chant." 

"  I  will  lend  you  some  togs  for  the  voyage,"  the  mate  said. 
"  We  have  no  passengers  on  board,  so  that  if  they  don't  quite 
fit  you  it  won't  matter,  although  I  think  that  we  are  pretty 
much  of  a  size." 

Stephen  warmly  thanked  the  captain  and  mate  for  their 
kindness,  and  then  went  to  the  gangway  and  told  the  men 
waiting  in  the  boat  to  inform  the  mate  that  it  was  all  right, 
and  that  he  had  arranged  for  a  passage. 

The  voyage  was  a  pleasant  one.  The  mate's  clothes  fitted 
Stephen  very  well,  and  he  messed  with  the  captain  and  of- 
ficers, who  were  pleasant  companions.  They  were  five  weeks 
on  the  voyage,  and  Stephen  was  delighted,  on  arriving  at 
Rio,  to  hear  that  Lord  Cochrane  was  still  there,  but  that  the 
fleet  would  put  to  sea  in  a  few  days.  He  resumed  his  Brazil- 
ian dress,  and,  after  renewed  thanks  to  the  captain  for  his 
kindness,  was  rowed  ashore  as  soon  as  the  port  officials  had 
paid  their  visit. 


FRESH    TRIUMPHS  369 

CHAPTER   XX 

FRESH     TRIUMPHS 

NO  sooner  had  Stephen  reached  the  landing-place  than  he 
hired  a  native  boat  to  take  him  off  to  the  flag-ship, 
which,  with  several  of  her  consorts,  was  lying  some  little  dis- 
tance off  the  shore  and  in  front  of  the  Naval  establishment. 
Several  others  were  close  in  by  the  wharfs. 

"They  look  in  a  slovenly  state  indeed,"  he  said  to  him- 
self, "infinitely  worse  than  the  Chilian  ships  did  when  we 
first  got  out  there.  There  are  two  or  three  by  the  flag-ship 
that  look  in  a  fair  state  of  order,  but  the  rest  might  be  a  fleet 
of  big  colliers,  with  their  yards  up  and  down  anyhow,  their 
rigging  all  slack,  and  everything  dirty  and  untidy." 

In  ten  minutes  they  were  alongside  of  the  flag-ship,  whose 
appearance  presented  a  strong  contrast  to  that  of  the  others. 

Telling  the  boatman  to  bring  up  his  bundle  after  him, 
Stephen  ascended  the  ladder.  A  petty  officer  came  up  to  him 
as  he  stepped  on  to  the  deck. 

"What  is  your  business?"  he  asked  him  in  Portuguese, 
which  Stephen  now  spoke  fluently. 

' '  I  wish  to  speak  to  the  admiral. ' ' 

The  sailor  looked  at  him  from  head  to  foot.  "  Have  you 
an  appointment  with  him?  " 

"I  have  not,  but  he  will  see  me,  nevertheless,  when  he 
knows  that  I  am  here. ' ' 

On  looking  round  while  the  man  hesitated,  Stephen  saw  the 
admiral  speaking  to  an  officer  in  captain's  uniform.  The  petty 
officer,  after  some  hesitation,  went  up  to  the  officer  on  watch, 
who  at  once  came  over  to  Stephen. 

"You  want  to  speak  to  the  admiral?" 


370  WITH    COCHRANE    THE    DAUNTLESS 

"  I  do,  lieutenant.  I  see  him  yonder,  and  if  you  will  be 
good  enough  to  inform  him  that  Lieutenant  Embleton  is  here 
and  ready  to  report  himself  for  duty,  you  will  find  that  he  will 
not  mind  being  disturbed." 

The  officer  looked  at  him  doubtfully.  "You  have  neither 
the  appearance  of  an  Englishman  nor  of  a  lieutenant,"  he  said. 

' '  That  may  be,  sir,  but  it  does  not  alter  the  fact. ' ' 

At  this  moment  the  captain  left  the  admiral's  side  and 
walked  forward. 

"  What  is  it,  Lieutenant  Romoro?  "  he  asked  as  he  passed 
them. 

"  This  gentleman,"  and  he  hesitated  over  the  word,  "  says 
that  he  is  Lieutenant  Embleton,  and  desires  to  speak  to  the 
admiral." 

' '  Lieutenant  Embleton  !  ' '  the  captain  repeated  in  English ; 
"not  the  admiral's  flag-lieutenant  in  Chili,  surely  ?  If  so,  Lord 
Cochrane  will  be  delighted  to  see  you ;  he  has  spoken  of  you 
to  me  several  times.  He  believed  you  to  be  dead,  and  but 
yesterday  he  was  saying  how  he  missed  your  services. ' ' 

"  I  am  the  man,  sir,"  Stephen  replied.  "I  have  been 
eighteen  months  in  crossing  the  continent,  and  to  get  here 
from  Para  had  to  make  the  voyage  to  the  Cape  de  Verde  and 
back  again." 

"  I  congratulate  you  on  your  escape,"  the  captain  said, 
shaking  his  hand  warmly.  "  My  name  is  Crosbie,  I  am  Lord 
Cochrane' s  flag-captain,  I  will  take  you  to  him  at  once." 

The  admiral  had  left  the  deck  and  retired  to  his  cabin. 
Captain  Crosbie  took  Stephen  there,  and  at  once  knocked  at 
the  door  and  entered. 

"  Excuse  my  troubling  you  now,  admiral,"  he  said,  "but 
my  object  will,  I  am  sure,  excuse  my  intrusion.  I  have  a 
gentleman  here  that  you  will,  I  know,  be  glad  to  meet." 

Lord  Cochrane  looked  earnestly  at  Stephen ;  he  had  not 


"MY   DEAR   BOY,"   EXCLAIMED   LORD  COCHRANE,    "THANK  GOD   INDEED 
THAT   I   SEE  YOU  ALIVE." 


FRESH    TRIUMPHS  371 

seen  him  since  he  had  sent  him  down  to  Valparaiso  after  the 
capture  of  the  Esmeralda.  The  two  years  that  had  elapsed 
had  greatly  changed  his  appearance,  and  he  had  grown  from  a 
tall  lad  of  eighteen  into  a  powerful  young  man.  A  flash  of 
recognition  came  into  his  face,  he  made  a  step  forward  and 
exclaimed :  "  Good  heavens,  can  it  be — " 

"  Stephen  Embleton,  sir.  I  have  come  on  board  to  report 
for  duty." 

"  My  dear  boy,  my  dear  boy,"  Lord  Cochrane  said, 
holding  out  both  hands  and  wringing  those  of  Stephen,  "I 
am  glad  to  see  you  indeed.  I  thank  God  that  I  see  you  alive 
and  well  again,  which  I  never  dreamt  that  I  should  do,  for  I 
thought  that  you  had  died  or  had  been  tortured  to  death  in 
the  dungeons  of  that  accursed  Inquisition  at  Callao.  But  where 
have  you  sprung  from,  where  have  you  been  all  this  time,  by 
what  miracle  are  you  here  ?  ' ' 

"  I  escaped  the  night  before  I  was  to  be  handed  over  to  the 
Inquisition,"  Stephen  replied,  "then  finding  it  impossible  to 
make  my  way  down  to  Chili  I  crossed  the  Andes  and  have 
come  down  the  Amazon.  I  had  an  unfortunate  adventure 
which  detained  me  for  eight  months ;  at  least,  I  thought  it 
unfortunate  at  the  time,  but  I  cannot  think  it  so  now,  as  I 
have  just  arrived  in  time  to  join  your  lordship  here." 

' '  And  now,  admiral,  if  you  will  excuse  me  I  will  be  off  to 
my  duties,"  Captain  Crosbie  put  in.  "I  could  not  deny 
myself  the  pleasure  of  bringing  in  Mr.  Embleton,  but  his  story 
will  assuredly  be  a  long  one,  and,  as  you  know,  my  hands  are 
pretty  full." 

"  Well  now,  lad,"  the  admiral  said  when  they  were  alone, 
"sit  down  and  tell  me  all  about  it.  Here  I  am  with  my  old 
worry  again,  but  worse.  I  thought  the  Chilians  were  as  bad  as 
could  be  in  matters  of  business,  but  these  fellows  are  infinitely 
worse.  I  have  had  no  end  of  trouble  with  them,  and  have 


372  WITH    COCHRANE    THE    DAUNTLESS 

been  obliged  to  threaten,  three  or  four  times  already,  to  resign. 
As  it  is,  I  have  only  been  able  to  get  four  ships  out  of  a  dozen 
ready,  and  even  these,  with  the  exception  of  this  ship,  are  in  a 
shameful  state,  and  deficient  in  every  necessary.  What  is 
worse,  I  cannot  even  rely  upon  the  crews,  which  I  always 
could  do  in  the  Chilian  service.  Well,  before  you  begin  your 
story,  I  must  tell  you  that  I  did  not  forget  you,  but  tried 
every  means  in  my  power  to  effect  your  release.  When  I  got 
a  letter  from  my  wife  mentioning  that  you  had  sailed  in  that 
store-ship  that  had  been  so  long  missing,  I  set  about  making 
inquiries,  and  sent  a  boat  ashore  with  a  white  flag  to  inquire 
if  any  such  ship  had  been  wrecked  on  the  coast,  for  there  had 
been  a  heavy  gale  at  the  time  that  she  was  making  her  pas- 
sage. I  was  informed  that  she  and  all  hands  had  been  lost. 

' '  From  some  deserters,  however,  I  learned  that  this  was  a  lie ; 
a  few  sailors  had  got  ashore  and  had  been  killed.  I  then  sent 
a  frigate  down  to  the  place  where  the  wreck  had  been  and 
sent  a  letter  ashore  to  the  governor.  He  replied  that  an  Eng- 
lish officer  had  been  captured,  and  had  been  sent  to  Callao 
and  handed  over  to  the  authorities  there.  When  the  frigate 
returned  with  the  news  I  sent  a  furious  letter  ashore  to  the 
governor.  He  replied  that  he  was  not  before  aware  that  the 
officer  in  question  had  belonged  to  the  ship  that  was  wrecked, 
and  that  the  person  I  spoke  of  had  escaped  from  prison  and 
had  not  been  recaptured.  A  few  days  after  this  a  fresh  gov- 
ernor was  appointed  at  Callao.  I  wrote  to  him,  and  he  gave 
me  substantially  the  same  reply  that  the  other  had  done. 
However,  I  opened  negotiations  with  a  merchant  there  and 
got  him  to  make  inquiries.  He  sent  word  that  he  had  talked 
to  some  of  the  prison  officials,  and  that  they  told  the  same 
story  as  the  governor  had  done ;  they  said  that  you  had,  in 
some  extraordinary  way,  overpowered  two  prison  officials  and 
had  made  your  escape.  Of  course  I  did  not  believe  this, 


FRESH    TRIUMPHS  373 

and  supposed  that  instructions  had  been  given  to  all  the 
people  connected  with  the  prison  to  tell  the  same  story.  So 
I  sent  again  to  the  merchant,  and  told  him  to  use  whatever 
means  were  necessary  to  get  at  the  truth,  as  bribery  will  do 
anything  on  that  coast.  He  found  that  the  new  governor  on 
taking  the  command  had  found  a  book  with  a  record  as  to  the 
disposition  of  the  prisoners  on  leaving.  Some  were  marked 
merely  discharged,  others  as  returned  to  their  regiments,  many 
as  having  died  in  prison.  There  were  also  a  large  number  of 
official  documents  relating  to  these  matters,  and  among  them 
the  governor  found  an  order  for  you  to  be  handed  over  to  the 
Inquisition  on  the  day  following  that  on  which  you  were  said 
to  have  escaped.  As  soon  as  I  heard  this,  it  seemed  to  me 
that  there  was  no  doubt  about  your  fate.  You  had  been 
handed  over,  and  this  cock-and-bull  story  was  only  intended 
to  throw  dust  in  my  eyes  if  I  captured  Callao.  I  therefore 
sent  a  demand  to  the  Peruvian  authorities  for  your  release  and 
surrender,  saying  what  I  had  learned ;  and  in  reply  they  de- 
clared that  I  had  been  misinformed,  for  that  you  had  escaped, 
and  that  the  authorities  of  the  Inquisition  denied  positively 
that  you  had  ever  been  handed  over  to  them. 

"  I  wrote  a  strong  letter  in  reply,  saying  that  no  one  ever 
believed  the  word  of  an  inquisitor,  and  that  if  it  should  ever 
be  my  good  fortune  to  capture  Callao  I  would  burn  their 
buildings  to  the  ground,  and  hang  every  official,  priest,  and 
layman  belonging  to  it.  There  the  matter  dropped.  Of 
course  I  did  not  get  the  chance  of  carrying  my  threat  into 
execution,  but  if  I  had  done  so  I  should  have  certainly  carried 
it  out ;  and  even  if  I  had  found  afterwards  that  I  had  been 
mistaken  about  you  I  should  not  have  regretted  it,  for  they 
have  deserved  the  fate  a  hundred  times  over.  Well,  tell  me 
about  your  escape ;  the  story  afterwards  must  keep.  You 
know  the  state  the  Chilian  navy  was  in  when  I  took  the  com- 


374  WITH    COCHRANE   THE    DAUNTLESS 

mand ;  well,  this  is  much  worse,  and  the  factions  here  are 
even  more  bitter  and  unscrupulous  than  they  were  in  Chili, 
impossible  as  that  may  seem  to  you." 

"  The  affair  was  a  very  easy  one,  sir,  for  it  was  by  bribery 
rather  than  force  that  I  got  away."  And  he  then  related  the 
manner  in  which  he  had  been  befriended  by  Don  Filippo 
Conchas  and  his  cousin. 

' '  A  noble  young  fellow  !  ' '  the  admiral  exclaimed  when  he 
brought  his  story  to  a  conclusion.  "  Of  course  there  are  fine 
fellows  among  the  Spaniards  as  among  other  nations,  but  we 
have  heard  only  of  their  worst  side,  that  told  by  people 
who  hated  them  bitterly.  Well,  I  shall  like  them  better  in 
future,  and  I  hope  some  day  that  I  may  run  across  that  young 
fellow  and  his  wife — no  doubt  she  is  his  wife  long  ere  this. 
Let  us  call  Crosbie  in.  He  is  a  fine  fellow,  and  I  am  very 
certain  he  will  be  heartily  glad  to  have  you  with  him,  for  at 
present  he  has  not  a  soul  he  can  rely  on." 

On  Captain  Crosbie's  arrival  the  admiral  told  him  that 
Stephen  was  ready  to  set  to  work  at  once,  in  any  capacity  in 
which  he  could  make  himself  useful. 

"  I  shall  be  glad  indeed  of  his  aid,"  the  captain  said,  "  for 
there  is  not  an  officer  or  man  who  knows  his  work. ' ' 

"  Knows  !  "  the  admiral  repeated  ;  "  there  is  not  a  man 
who  has  the  faintest  idea  of  it.  I  should  have  liked  Stephen, 
above  all  things,  for  our  first  lieutenant,  but  our  complement 
is  complete." 

"I  think  you  might  manage  it,"  Captain  Crosbie  said 
after  a  few  minutes'  reflection.  "  No  captain  has  yet  been 
appointed  to  command  the  Carolina.  You  might  appoint 
Morales  to  it.  He  belongs  to  a  powerful  family  here,  and 
they  would  be  pleased  at  his  promotion.  So  it  might  be  a 
politic  step,  as  well  as  serving  our  purpose  by  making  a  va- 
cancy for  Embleton." 


FRESH    TRIUMPHS  375 

"  That  would  be  just  the  thing,"  the  admiral  said. 

"  I  am  sure  I  should  be  delighted,"  Captain  Crosbie  went 
on,  "  for  Morales  is  of  very  little  use  ;  and  with  Mr.  Embleton 
to  aid  me  I  should  be  able  to  get  the  crew  into  something  like 
shape  in  half  the  time  that  it  would  take  me  to  do  it  single- 
handed." 

' '  Very  well,  then  ;  the  thing  is  done.  I  have  full  powers 
to  make  any  changes  and  appointments  in  the  fleet,  so  I  will 
write  out  the  orders  at  once.  If  you  will  send  Lieutenant 
Morales  in  here,  Captain  Crosbie,  I  will  announce  his  promo- 
tion to  him  and  tell  him  to  take  up  his  duties  at  once,  and 
then  Embleton  can  enter  upon  his  as  soon  as  he  has  provided 
himself  with  a  uniform." 

Stephen  was  about  to  leave  the  room  with  Captain  Crosbie 
when  the  admiral  stopped  him. 

"I  have  no  doubt  that  you  are  short  of  cash,  Stephen," 
he  said,  "  and  just  at  the  present  moment  of  course  you  can- 
not draw  upon  your  bankers  in  England,  for  your  father  will 
naturally  have  long  since  believed  you  dead,  and  the  account 
will  be  transferred  to  himself;  so  I  must  be  your  banker  for 
the  present.  Here  are  two  hundred  and  fifty  dollars.  Tell 
the  fellows  who  make  your  uniform  —  Crosbie  will  tell  you 
where  to  go  to — that  you  will  pay  them  something  extra  to 
get  one  suit  finished  by  to-morrow.  We  shall  sail  in  a  couple 
of  days. ' ' 

After  thanking  the  admiral,  Stephen  retired  just  as  the  lieu- 
tenant entered  the  cabin.  On  asking  the  captain-  as  to  the 
address  of  the  best  firm  of  tailors  the  latter  said  : 

"I  am  just  going  ashore  myself  to  see  about  some  stores 
from  the  dockyard,  and  will  go  there  with  you.  As  I  am 
known  to  them  they  will  probably  sharpen  up  more  than  if 
you,  a  stranger,  went  by  yourself." 

As  they  rowed  ashore  Stephen  learned  from  Captain  Cros- 


376  WITH   COCHRANE   THE   DAUNTLESS 

bie  that  the  fleet  ready  for  sea  consisted,  in  addition  to  the 
flag-ship,  of  one  fine  frigate,  the  Piranza,  the  Maria  da  Gloria, 
a  converted  merchantman  mounting  thirty-three  small  guns, 
and  the  Liberal,  about  the  same  size. 

"  We  take  with  us  two  old  vessels  that  will  be  used  as  fire- 
ships,  and  the  Carolina  and  another  ship  that  are  not  yet 
equipped  will  join  us  later  on.  We  are  first  going  to  attack 
Bahia,  where  we  shall  have  all  our  work  cut  out.  The  Portu- 
guese have  three  line-of-battle  ships,  five  frigates,  five  corvettes, 
a  brig,  and  a  schooner.  The  worst  of  the  thing  is  that  we  can- 
not depend  upon  our  crews.  I  think  that  our  ship  will  be  all 
right,  but  the  others  are  all  largely  manned  by  Portuguese, 
who  are  as  likely  as  not  to  mutiny  directly  we  get  near  the 
enemy,  and  to  take  the  ships  over  to  them.  Besides  that,  our 
equipments  are  simply  miserable — the  cartridges  are  all  unfit 
for  service,  the  fuses  of  the  shells  are  absolutely  untrustworthy, 
the  powder  is  wretched,  the  marines  know  nothing  either  of 
working  the  big  guns  or  of  the  use  of  the  small  ones,  and  are 
moreover  an  insolent,  lazy  set  of  rascals,  and  consider  them- 
selves as  something  infinitely  superior  to  the  sailors.  Lord 
Cochrane  will  doubtless  add  to  his  own  great  reputation  by 
the  deeds  he  will  perform  here,  but  assuredly  he  will  find  that 
he  will  be  harassed  well-nigh  to  death  by  the  different  fac- 
tions, and  will  have  difficulties  placed  in  his  way  at  every  turn, 
will  be  unable  to  obtain  justice  for  his  crews,  and  will  ere 
long  find  his  position  altogether  insufferable.  The  emperor 
is  well-intentioned  and  honest,  but  is  altogether  devoid  of 
any  real  power,  and  he  is  as  completely  in  the  hands  of  the 
clique  of  schemers  round  him,  as  was  the  President  of  Chili. 
There  is  not  an  English  officer  now  in  the  service  of  Dom 
Pedro  who  would  not  be  delighted  to  leave  it  if  they  could 
obtain  an  appointment  at  one-fourth  of  the  pay  elsewhere. ' ' 

On  the  3rd  of  April  the  little  squadron  set  sail.     They 


FRESH   TRIUMPHS  377 

arrived  off  Bahia  on  the  ist  of  May,  and  the  Portuguese 
fleet  at  once  sailed  out  of  the  harbour  to  meet  them.  The 
force  was  altogether  too  formidable  to  be  engaged  by  four  ill- 
manned  and  ill-equipped  ships,  but  Lord  Cochrane  manoeuvred 
so  that  he  was  able  with  his  flag-ship  to  cut  off  the  four  rear- 
most ships  of  their  fleet.  He  signalled  at  once  to  his  consorts 
to  join  him  in  attacking  these  vessels,  but  to  his  astonishment 
and  anger  the  signal  was  disregarded,  and  not  one  of  them 
made  the  slightest  movement  to  join  him.  Hoping  that  when 
they  saw  him  actively  engaged  they  would  bear  down  and 
take  part  in  the  fight,  he  opened  fire  upon  the  Portuguese ; 
but  the  guns  and  powder  were  alike  so  defective,  and  the 
crews  so  incapable  of  handling  them,  that  he  did  but  little 
damage  to  the  enemy  and  was  forced  to  draw  off.  He  found 
that  the  Portuguese  on  his  other  three  ships  had  absolutely 
refused  to  obey  their  captains'  orders,  and  even  on  the  flag- 
ship the  Portuguese  employed  in  sending  up  ammunition  from 
below,  had  so  wilfully  delayed  in  their  work  that  the  guns 
were  often  idle  for  want  of  ammunition. 

He  wrote  at  once  a  very  strong  letter  to  the  Brazilian 
authorities  as  to  the  manning  and  equipment  of  the  ships,  and 
declared  that  he  could  do  nothing  until  these  matters  were 
remedied,  for  that  it  was  necessary  for  one  -  half  of  the 
squadron  to  be  incessantly  watching  the  other.  However, 
it  was  not  in  his  nature  to  wait  until  his  complaints  were 
attended  to,  for  his  experience  had  already  taught  him  that 
this  would  be  to  condemn  himself  to  protracted  inactivity. 
He  consequently  sailed  to  the  nearest  Brazilian  port,  and  there 
transferred  all  the  best  men  and  the  most  serviceable  fittings  to 
his  flag -ship  and  the  Maria  da  Gloria.  Leaving  the  other 
vessels  to  remain  in  port  until  properly  refitted  and  until  their 
captains  could  obtain  disciplined  and  sufficient  crews,  he 
sailed  with  the  Maria  da  Gloria  for  Bahia.  As  the  commander 


378  WITH    COCHRANE   THE   DAUNTLESS 

of  the  smaller  ship,  Captain  Beaurepaire,  was  an  active  and 
efficient  officer,  good  results  were  soon  obtained  by  the 
change.  Several  small  captures  were  made  of  vessels  coming 
in  with  supplies.  The  port  was  completely  blockaded,  and 
the  Portuguese  squadron,  cowed  by  Cochrane's  great  repu- 
tation, dared  not  venture  out  to  engage  him. 

After  remaining  there  for  three  weeks  the  admiral  returned 
to  the  port  to  see  how  the  other  ships  were  getting  on,  and  in 
six  days  was  back  again.  The  Portuguese  fleet  had  ventured 
out,  but  as  soon  as  Lord  Cochrane  arrived  they  withdrew 
again.  A  week  later  information  was  obtained  from  a  ship 
captured  while  attempting  to  leave  the  port,  that  the  Portuguese 
were  seriously  thinking  of  evacuating  the  place  altogether, 
before  the  fire-ships  that  were,  they  had  learned,  in  course  of 
preparation,  should  arrive.  The  admiral  despatched  the 
Maria  da  Gloria  to  the  port  to  lay  in  water  and  victuals  for 
three  months.  The  other  ships  there  were  also  to  be  vict- 
ualled, and  the  Piranza  was  directed  to  join  at  once.  In  the 
meantime  Lord  Cochrane  determined  to  increase,  if  possible, 
the  alarm  of  the  Portuguese,  though  he  had  now  only  the  flag- 
ship off  the  port. 

The  enemies'  fleet  lay  ten  or  twelve  miles  up  the  bay  under 
shelter  of  the  guns  of  the  fort. 

"As  to  attacking  them  by  daylight,"  he  said  when  talking 
over  the  matter  with  Captain  Crosbie  and  Stephen,  "  it  would 
be  altogether  too  desperate.  Were  this  ship  manned  with 
English  sailors  I  would  do  it  without  hesitation,  and  even 
with  Chilians  a  good  deal  might  be  effected  ;  but  although  the 
crew  have  gained  greatly  in  discipline  since  we  got  rid  of  the 
Portuguese,  I  could  not  count  upon  them.  The  Chilians  had 
gradually  gained  experience  and  confidence  in  themselves,  but 
our  crew  are  altogether  new  to  the  work  and  could  not  be 
trusted  to  fight  against  such  enormous  odds.  Still,  by  going 


FRESH   TRIUMPHS  379 

up  at  night  we  might  get  in  among  their  fleet  unnoticed,  and 
might  even  capture  one  or  two  vessels.  At  any  rate,  it  would 
heighten  their  alarm  even  to  know  that  we  had  got  up  through 
the  channel  into  their  midst." 

As  soon  as  it  became  dark  on  the  evening  of  the  1 2th  of 
June  the  Pedro  Primeiro  sailed  up  the  river,  sounding  her  way 
as  she  went.  Absolute  silence  was  observed  on  board  the 
ship.  Unfortunately  just  as  they  reached  the  outermost 
vessels  the  wind  began  to  drop  so  light  that  the  ship  could 
hardly  stem  the  tide  that  was  running  out ;  however,  she  made 
her  way  some  little  distance  further.  Even  in  the  darkness  so 
large  a  ship  was  noticed ;  the  alarm  was  given  and  the  drums 
beat  to  quarters  on  board  the  Portuguese  ships  of  war.  In 
answer  to  a  hail  as  to  who  she  was  the  answer  was  given, 
"An  English  ship."  This  satisfied  the  Portuguese;  but  as 
the  wind  had  now  altogether  failed  and  the  tide  was  growing 
in  strength  nothing  more  could  be  done.  An  anchor  was 
dropped,  but  with  enough  chain  to  allow  it  to  drag  on  the 
ground,  and  stern  foremost  she  drifted  out  from  the  shipping 
and  regained  her  old  position  at  the  mouth  of  the  river. 
But  although  no  material  advantage  had  been  gained  the 
moral  effect  more  than  answered  the  admiral's  hopes.  When 
it  became  known  that  his  ship  had  been  in  the  midst  of  the 
Portuguese  squadron,  something  like  a  panic  took  place  on 
board,  and  this  was  increased  by  the  news  they  received  that 
the  fitting  out  of  the  fire-ships  had  almost  been  completed. 

Dependent,  as  the  garrison  and  shipping  were,  almost  en- 
tirely upon  provisions  brought  by  sea,  they  were  already  very 
seriously  inconvenienced  by  the  blockade.  Accordingly,  on 
the  2nd  of  July  the  whole  squadron  of  war-ships,  and  seventy 
merchantmen  and  transports  carrying  the  troops,  evacuated 
Bahia.  All  on  board  the  flag-ship  were  delighted  when  they 
saw  the  great  fleet  sail ; "  for  even  Lord  Cochrane  had  felt  that 


380  WITH    COCHRANE    THE    DAUNTLESS 

even  with  the  whole  of  his  little  squadron  it  would  be  a 
desperate  undertaking  to  attempt  to  attack  them  when  sup- 
ported by  the  guns  of  their  forts ;  now,  however,  that  they 
were  at  sea  he  could  at  least  harass  them,  for  if  the  ships  of 
war  turned  upon  him  he  could  bear  away.  Already  an  immense 
service  had  been  performed,  for  the  evacuation  of  Bahia  prac- 
tically handed  over  the  whole  of  the  province  of  that  name  to 
Brazil.  The  admiral  had  not  been  joined  by  the  two  ships  left 
in  port,  but  the  Maria  da  Gloria  had  returned/and  the  Caro- 
lina and  Nitherohy,  which  had  been  left  at  Rio  to  complete 
their  outfit,  came  up  three  hours  after  the  Portuguese  sailed. 

He  directed  these  three  ships  to  pick  up  any  Portuguese 
vessels  that  lagged  behind  or  made  off  to  the  right  or  left 
hand,  while  with  the  flag-ship  he  followed  close  on  the  rear 
of  the  main  body.  The  Portuguese  had  intended  to  make  for 
Maranham,  where  another  squadron  was  lying,  but  Cochrane 
pressed  them  so  closely  that  they  were  forced  to  abandon  this 
plan  and  continue  to  sail  south.  The  men-of-war  did  not 
attempt  to  turn  on  their  pursuer,  but  kept  steadily  on,  while 
the  merchant  ships  and  transports  scattered  right  and  left  in 
order  to  escape  from  the  reach  of  his  guns.  Those  that  did 
so  were  all  picked  up  by  the  other  Brazilian  ships,  while  Lord 
Cochrane  pursued  the  main  body.  Five  days  after  they  had 
sailed,  he  sent  off  the  other  vessels  with  their  prizes  to  Per- 
nambuco,  the  nearest  port,  with  a  despatch  to  the  minister  of 
marine,  informing  him  that  half  the  enemy's  army,  their  col- 
ours, cannon,  ammunition,  stores,  and  baggage  had  already 
been  taken.  He  stated  that  he  should  continue  the  pursuit, 
directing  his  attention  at  present  to  the  transports,  in  order 
that  he  might  if  possible  capture  the  whole  of  the  troops  and 
so  lessen  the  risk  of  any  future  operations  by  the  Portuguese 
against  Brazil.  After  effecting  this  he  should,  he  said,  direct 
his  operations  against  their  war-ships. 


FRESH    TRIUMPHS  381 

For  another  week  he  followed  the  flying  fleet.  Each  night 
he  swept  down  among  them,  capturing  many  vessels  and  caus- 
ing the  utmost  confusion  and  alarm  among  the  rest.  He 
chased  them  past  the  equator  and  more  than  half-way  to  Cape 
Verde,  and  then  left  them  to  make  their  way  back  to  Portu- 
gal, and  report  that  a  single  vessel  had  driven  thirteen  ships 
of  war  home,  accompanied  by  only  thirteen  of  the  seventy 
vessels  that  had  started  under  their  protection.  The  pursuit 
would  not  have  terminated  even  then,  but  would  have  been 
pressed  until  the  rest  of  the  convoy  fell  into  his  hands,  but 
several  of  the  transports  had  made  their  escape  during  the 
night  attacks,  and  Lord  Cochrane  was  anxious  to  prevent 
them  from  carrying  their  troops  safely  into  Maranham.  Upon 
abandoning  the  pursuit,  therefore,  he  sailed  for  that  port,  and 
entered  the  river  with  Portuguese  colours  flying. 

The  authorities  at  once  sent  off  an  officer  to  congratulate 
their  supposed  friend  on  his  safe  arrival,  and  to  express  their 
satisfaction  at  this  reinforcement  to  their  strength.  On  arriv- 
ing on  board,  the  officer  found  that  he  had  fallen  into  a  trap. 
Lord  Cochrane  announced  to  him  that  the  flag-ship  would  be 
followed  by  a  numerous  fleet  with  a  military  force,  and  that 
resistance  would  therefore  bring  about  the  destruction  of  the 
place  and  the  capture  of  the  fleet  and  garrison,  and  he  then 
sent  him  on  shore  with  letters  to  the  governor  to  the  same 
effect. 

"You  will  already  have  learned,"  he  said,  "of  the  flight 
of  the  naval  and  military  forces  from  Bahia.  I  have  now  to 
inform  you  of  the  capture  of  two-thirds  of  the  transports  and 
troops  with  all  their  stores  and  ammunition.  I  am  anxious 
not  to  let  loose  the  imperial  troops  upon  Maranham,  exasper- 
ated as  they  are  at  the  injuries  and  cruelties  exercised  towards 
them  and  their  countrymen,  as  well  as  by  the  plunder  of  the 
merchants  and  churches  at  Bahia." 


382  WITH    COCHRANE    THE    DAUNTLESS 

The  letter  had  a  prompt  effect,  and  on  the  following  day  a 
deputation  came  off  and  surrendered  the  city  and  forts.  The 
Portuguese  troops  were  at  once  embarked  on  their  ships  and 
allowed  to  sail  to  Europe,  as,  had  they  learned  the  truth, 
they  might  again  have  obtained  possession  of  the  forts  and 
town,  which  the  admiral  had  no  means  of  preventing 
them  from  doing.  The  delight  of  the  people  at  being  free 
from  the  dominion  of  the  Portuguese  was  unbounded,  and 
they  would  have  massacred  the  civilians  remaining  had  not 
Lord  Cochrane  interfered  and  allowed  all  who  were  willing, 
to  take  the  oath  of  allegiance  to  Brazil.  Many  of  the  lead- 
ing Portuguese  merchants  and  traders  did  so,  but  the  admiral 
was  obliged  to  remain  two  months  in  the  port  to  protect  them 
from  the  effect  of  the  exasperation  of  the  native  population. 
But  although  compelled  to  remain  inactive  for  a  time,  the 
admiral  continued  his  work  by  sending  off  Captain  Grenfell 
with  a  Portuguese  brig,  which  he  had  seized  in  the  river,  to 
Para,  the  last  stronghold  remaining  to  the  Portuguese,  to  fol- 
low there  the  example  that  he  had  set  him,  by  reporting  the 
capture  of  Bahia  and  Maranham,  and  announcing  the  coming 
of  a  great  fleet  and  demanding  immediate  surrender. 

The  expedient  was  again  completely  successful.  Astounded 
and  cowed  at  the  disasters  that  had  befallen  their  countrymen, 
Para  and  the  ships  of  war  in  the  harbour  at  once  surrendered, 
and  the  troops  were  embarked  without  delay  for  Portugal. 
Thus,  in  the  course  of  six  months,  Lord  Cochrane  had  with 
practically  but  one  righting  ship  put  an  end  to  the  Portuguese 
domination  in  Brazil,  had  captured  three  strong  fortresses, 
driven  three  large  bodies  of  troops  across  the  Atlantic,  taken 
an  immense  number  of  prizes,  a  vast  quantity  of  naval  and 
military  stores,  and  had  annexed  to  Brazil  a  territory  more 
than  half  as  large  as  Europe,  a  record  unapproached  in  the 
world's  history.  Upon  his  return  to  the  capital  Lord  Coch- 


FRESH    TRIUMPHS  383 

rane  was  received  with  the  greatest  enthusiasm.  The  emperor 
came  on  board  and  personally  tendered  him  his  thanks.  The 
title  of  Marquis  of  Maranham  was  bestowed  upon  him,  and  he 
was  made  a  privy-councillor  of  Brazil. 

These,  however,  were  but  empty  honours.  His  sailors  re- 
mained unpaid ;  by  a  system  of  wholesale  fraud  they  received 
but  an  insignificant  fraction  of  the  prize-money  due  to  them  ; 
for  the  Portuguese  faction  were  still  predominant  in  the  Bra- 
zilian ministry,  and  Lord  Cochrane  was  so  openly  insulted 
that  he  felt  his  position  untenable.  He  remained,  however, 
for  a  year  longer  in  the  service,  in  order  to  obtain  for  his 
sailors  some  portion  of  the  arrears  of  pay  and  of  the  insignifi- 
cant amount  of  prize-money  that  was  admittedly  their  due. 
His  Designation  could  not  be  much  longer  delayed,  but  finally 
it  was  brought  about  by  accident.  He  was  cruising  in  the 
Piranza,  to  which  he  had  shifted  his  flag,  when  he  was  carried 
far  out  to  sea  by  strong  easterly  winds.  These  increased  to  a 
heavy  gale,  when  it  was  discovered  that  many  of  the  spars 
were  so  unserviceable  that  sail  could  not  be  set  on  them. 

The  rigging  was  absolutely  rotten,  as  were  the  provisions 
on  board.  He  could  do  nothing  but  run  before  the  gale  as 
long  as  it  lasted,  and  by  that  time  he  had  sailed  far  across  the 
Atlantic.  Return  was  impossible  for  him,  seeing  the  condi- 
tion of  the  ship,  and  the  fact  that  there  was  not  more  than  a 
week's  supply  of  wholesome  food  remaining.  He  therefore 
decided  that  the  only  chance  of  safety  was  to  continue  his 
voyage  to  England.  This  he  did,  and  reached  Portsmouth 
in  safety,  and  his  first  step  was  to  advance  ^2000  to  refit  the 
ship.  But  his  enemies  in  Brazil  made  out  that  his  voyage  to 
England  was  an  absolute  desertion,  and  sent  instructions  to 
the  officers  and  crew  no  longer  to  obey  his  orders.  He  there- 
fore sent  off  the  letter  of  resignation  he  had  so  long  intended. 
Thus,  at  the  close  of  his  two  commands,  in  which  he  had 


384  WITH    COCHRANE    THE    DAUNTLESS 

brought  about  the  expulsion  of  the  Spaniards  from  the  west- 
ern coast  of  South  America,  and  that  of  the  Portuguese  from 
the  eastern,  Lord  Cochrane,  so  far  from  having  reaped  any 
personal  benefit  from  his  splendid  services  and  daring  ex- 
ploits, was  absolutely  a  poorer  man  by  ^20,000  than  when 
he  left  the  shores  of  England. 

Stephen  had,  by  Lord  Cochrane's  advice,  resigned  his  com- 
mission as  soon  as  the  admiral  saw  that  there  was  no  hope  of 
obtaining  fair  treatment  from  the  Portuguese  faction,  who 
determined  that  the  sailors  should  derive  no  benefit  from  the 
work  they  had  done. 

"  Chili  was  bad,"  he  said;  "  but  in  Chili  there  was  some 
honest  popular  feeling,  and  this  acted  as  a  check  and  pre- 
vented the  council  carrying  their  rascally  course  too  far.  In 
Brazil  there  is  practically  no  public  opinion.  The  people  are 
on  a  level  with  those  in  Peru,  and  naturally  indolent ;  they 
have  grown  so  accustomed  to  oppression  that  they  dare  not 
protest  against  any  iniquity.  I  foresee  that  it  will  not  be 
long  before  I,  too,  shall  resign ;  indeed,  I  would  gladly  do 
so  now,  were  it  not  that  I  am  forced  to  stay  here  to  do  what  I 
can  to  obtain  justice  for  the  fleet.  You  are  but  one-and- 
twenty  and  your  life  is  before  you ;  you  have  had  enough 
adventures  to  last  an  ordinary  man  for  his  lifetime,  and  you 
have  acquired  some  six  or  seven  thousand  pounds  by  your 
rescue  of  that  treasure,  and  your  Chilian  prize  -  money  as 
lieutenant  of  the  flag-ship.  Here  you  ought  to  get  more  than 
that,  but  I  can  see  already  that  the  fleet  will  be  cheated  out 
of  a  great  share  of  their  prize-money.  Still,  however  meagre 
the  amount  the  scoundrels  may  consider  themselves  bound  to 
dole  out,  you  ought  to  get  a  thousand  out  of  them  as  your 
share  of  the  capture  of  a  hundred  ships,  to  say  nothing  of  the 
men-of-war  and  the  stores.  With  six  or  seven  thousand 
pounds  you  can  buy  a  ship,  command  her  yourself  and  go  in 


FRESH    TRIUMPHS  385 

for  trade ;  you  can  settle  down  on  a  little  estate  in  the  coun- 
try, or  buy  yourself  a  share  in  some  business.  Were  there 
any  chance  of  further  fighting  here,  I  would  keep  you  with 
me  gladly,  but  as  it  is  it  would  be  a  pure  waste  of  time  for 
you  to  remain." 

Stephen  took  the  advice,  resigned,  and  went  home.  He 
had,  of  course,  written  to  his  father  as  soon  as  he  arrived  in 
Brazil,  and  when  the  vessel  touched  at  Plymouth  he  posted 
a  letter  to  prepare  him  for  his  arrival  at  home.  He  found 
him  somewhat  altered,  but  the  lieutenant  said  :  "I  am  in  ex- 
cellent health  now,  Stephen.  Your  disappearance,  and  Coch- 
rane's  letter  telling  me  that  he  feared  that  he  could  give  me 
no  hope  whatever,  broke  me  down  a  good  deal,  and  I  felt 
myself  that  I  was  going  downhill  rapidly.  However,  I  have 
l)een  picking  up  fast  ever  since  I  got  your  letter  giving  me  an 
account  of  your  journey  across  South  America.  Now  that  I 
have  you  home  again  I  shall  soon  be  completely  myself.  I 
have  invested  all  that  money  of  yours  in  good  securities,  and 
as  soon  as  I  got  your  letter  I  sent  the  order,  as  you  requested 
me,  to  Spain,  for  Don  Filippo  Conchas.  I  received  a  letter 
from  him  two  months  later  acknowledging  its  receipt,  and 
saying  how  pleased  he  and  his  wife  were  to  hear  of  your  safe 
arrival  on  the  sea-coast,  for  they  had  long  before  given  you 
up.  Don  Filippo  said  that  he  was  a  captain  now,  and  that 
his  regiment,  the  i5th  Cavalry,  was  stationed  at  Seville,  and 
that  he  hoped,  when  I  had  news  again  of  you,  I  would  write 
to  him  there." 

"  I  shall  go  out  myself,  father,  in  the  course  of  a  month  or 
two,  to  pay  him  a  visit.  He  and  his  wife  saved  my  life  at 
the  risk  of  disgrace  and  punishment  to  themselves,  and  I 
promised  them  that  if  I  should  get  safely  home  I  would  go 
over  to  see  them,  and  I  will  certainly  do  so." 

"  Quite  right,  Stephen.     The  sin  of  ingratitude  is  one  of 


386  WITH    COCHRANE    THE    DAUNTLESS 

the  meanest  and  basest  that  a  man  can  commit,  and  I  will  spare 
you  willingly  on  s'ich  an  errand." 

Captain  Conchas  and  his  wife  were  indeed  delighted  to  see 
Stephen,  and  he  spent  a  very  pleasant  fortnight  with  them. 
On  the  occasion  of  his  first  visit  to  London  he  made  inquiries 
of  Mr.  Hewson,  and  found  that  Wilcox,  the  sailor  who  had 
been  with  him  when  they  so  nearly  fell  into  the  hands  of  the 
natives,  was  still  in  his  service  ;  and  when,  some  time  after- 
wards, the  ship  which  he  was  in  returned  to  port,  he  had 
Wilcox  down  to  Ramsgate,  and  installed  him  in  the  place  of 
gardener  and  general  factotum  there.  When  Lord  Cochrane 
returned  to  England  Stephen  went  at  once  down  to  Ports- 
mouth. 

"  I  should  have  done  better  if  I  had  come  back  with  you, 
Embleton.  I  should  have  spared  myself  nearly  two  years  of 
trial,  humiliation,  and  disgust,  and  should  have  been  a  good 
many  thousand  pounds  in  pocket.  What  are  you  doing  with 
yourself  ?  ' ' 

"I  am  doing  nothing  at  present,  sir.  These  two  long 
absences  of  mine,  and  the  belief  that  I  was  dead,  knocked 
my  father  down  completely.  He  recovered  a  bit,  but  gradu- 
ally went  back  again,  and  I  fear  that  he  has  not  long  to  live. 
However,  my  presence  with  him  is  a  great  satisfaction  to  him, 
and  for  the  present  I  cannot  think  of  leaving  him." 

"  Quite  right,  lad.  A  man's  first  duty  is  to  his  father, 
especially  when  his  father  has  been  a  kind  one,  and  you  are 
quite  right  in  sticking  to  him  until  the  end." 

For  this  reason  Lord  Cochrane  abstained  from  urging 
Stephen  to  accompany  him,  when,  shortly  afterwards,  he  was 
offered  the  command  of  the  naval  forces  of  Greece,  which  was 
at  the  time  engaged  in  its  struggle  for  independence.  Stephen 
was  the  more  pleased  at  his  decision  to  stay  at  home  with  his 
father,  that  intrigues  and  want  of  means  caused  some  eighteen 


FRESH    TRIUMPHS  387 

months  to  pass  before  Lord  Cochrane  proceeded  to  take  up 
his  command.  Even  his  experience  of  Chili,  Peru,  and 
Brazil  had  hardly  prepared  the  admiral  for  the  corruption,  the 
incapacity,  the  faction,  and  the  rascality  of  the  Greeks.  His 
efforts  were  always  crippled;  and  although  he  accomplished 
all  that  a  man  could  do  in  their  service,  and  obtained  many 
minor  successes,  he  never  had  an  opportunity  of  repeating  the 
exploits  that  had  made  him  famous  in  the  service  of  his  own 
country  and  in  those  of  Chili  and  Brazil.  When  the  battle  of 
Navarino  had  practically  put  an  end  to  the  war  he  returned  to 
England  for  a  short  time,  heartily  wearied  of  his  struggle 
against  men  whom  he  pronounced  arrogant,  ignorant,  des- 
potic, and  cruel,  and  "  who  were  collectively  the  greatest 
cowards  that  I  have  ever  met." 

He  returned  after  a  short  stay  in  England,  but  found  that, 
now  that  his  services  were  no  longer  indispensable,  he  was 
treated  with  such  insolence  that  he  resigned  his  commission 
and  returned  home,  suffering  from  a  sort  of  mental  fever,  the 
result  of  the  trials,  troubles,  and  disappointments  that  he  had 
met  with  during  his  four  years  in  the  service  of  Greece.  In 
1831  he  succeeded,  on  the  death  of  his  father,  to  the  earldom 
of  Dundonald,  and  applied  himself  to  the  work  of  obtaining 
restitution  of  the  ranks  and  honours  of  which  he  had  been  so 
unjustly  deprived.  After  the  Reform  Bill  had  passed  in  1832, 
and  the  clique  that  had  persecuted  him  so  long  had  lost  office, 
a  free  pardon  was  granted  him,  he  was  restored  to  his  position 
in  the  royal  navy,  and  gazetted  rear-admiral.  But  naturally 
the  Earl  of  Dundonald  was  still  dissatisfied.  The  term  "  free 
pardon ' '  for  an  offence  that  he  had  never  committed  galled 
him,  and  while  he  now  devoted  himself  to  various  inventions 
connected  with  steam-engines  and  war-ships,  he  never  ceased 
to  strive  for  a  full  recognition  of  the  injustice  to  which  he  had 
been  subjected.  His  father  had  been  devoted  to  scientific 


388  WITH    COCHRANE   THE    DAUNTLESS 

inventions,  and  as  the  earl  inherited  that  talent  many  of  his 
inventions  were  of  the  highest  scientific  value. 

In  1848  Lord  Dundonald  was  appointed  admiral  of  the 
North  American  and  West  Indian  fleet.  Later  still  in  life 
other  recognitions  of  his  character  and  services  were  bestowed 
upon  him.  He  had  been  restored  to  his  honours  as  Knight  of 
the  Bath  by  the  Queen  in  1854.  He  was  appointed  Rear- 
admiral  of  the  Fleet,  and  a  month  later  was  named  by  Prince 
Albert  as  honorary  Brother  of  the  Trinity  House.  He  died 
on  the  3ist  of  October,  1860,  at  the  age  of  eighty-five. 

Stephen  Embleton  went  no  more  to  sea.  Contrary  to  his 
fears,  his  father  lived  for  many  years,  but  was  a  confirmed 
invalid,  and  suffered  so  severely  from  his  old  wound  that  he 
never  went  beyond  the  limit  of  his  garden.  Four  years  after 
his  return  from  Brazil  Stephen  married,  and  before  his  father's 
death  the  cottage  had  to  be  enlarged  to  make  room  for  the 
increasing  number  of  its  occupants  ;  and  Stephen  Embleton 
continued  to  reside  there  until,  a  few  years  ago,  he  died  at  a 
great  age. 


THE  END. 


"  Wherever  English  is  spoken  one  imagines  that  Mr.  Henty's 
name  is  known.  One  cannot  enter  a  schoolroom  or  look  at  a 
boy's  bookshelf  without  seeing  half-a-dozen  of  his  familiar 
volumes.  Mr.  Henty  is  no  doubt  the  most  successful  writer 
for  boys,  and  the  one  to  whose  new  volumes  they  look  forward 
every  Christmas  with  most  pleasure." — Review  of  Reviews. 


A   LIST   OF   BOOKS 
FOR  YOUNG   PEOPLE 


...  By  ... 

G.  A.  HENTY  GORDON  STABLES 

G.  M.  FENN  ROBERT  LEIGHTON 

S.  BARING-GOULD  HARRY     COLLINGWOOD 

KIRK   MUNROE  ROSA    MULHOLLAND 

F.    FRANKFORT     MOORE  ALICE  CORKRAN,  ETC 


Published  by 


CHARLES    SCRIBNER'S    SONS 

153  to  J57  Fifth  Avenue          &  J-          New  York 


BOOKS  FOR  YOUXG  PEOPLE 


G.  A,  HENTY'S  POPULAR  STORIES  FOR  BOYS 

NEW   VOLUMES   FOR   1897-98 

Mr.  Henty,  the  most  popular  writer  ol  Books  of  Adventure  in  England, 
adds  three  new  volumes  to  his  list  this  fall— books  that  will  delight  thousands 
of  boys  on  this  side  who  have  become  his  ardent  admirers. 


WITH  FREDERICK  THE  GREAT 

A  Tale  of  the  Seven  Years'  War.  With  12  full -page  illustra- 
tions. 12mo,  $1.50. 

The  hero  of  this  story  while  still  a  youth  entered  the  service  of  Fred- 
erick the  Great,  and  by  a  succession  of  fortunate  circumstances  and 
perilous  adventures,  rose  to  the  rank  of  colonel.  Attached  to  the  staff 
of  the  king,  the  rendered  distinguished  services  in  many  battles,  in  one 
of  which  he  saved  the  king's  life.  Twice  captured  and  imprisoned,  he 
both  times  escaped  from  the  Austrian  fortresses. 

The  story  follows  closely  the  historic  lines,  and  no  more  vivid  descrip- 
tion of  the  memorable  battles  of  Rossbach,  Leuthen,  Prague,  Zorndorf, 
Hochkirch,  and  Torgau  can  be  found  anywhere  than  is  here  given. 
Woven  in  this  there  runs  the  record  of  the  daring  and  hazardous  adven- 
tures of  the  hero,  and  the  whole  narrative  has  thus,  with  historic  accu- 
racy, the  utmost  charm  of  romance. 

A  MARCH  ON   LONDON 

A  Story  of  Wat  Tyler's  Rising.  With  8  full-page  illustra- 
tions by  W.  H.  MAKGETSON.  12mo,  $1.50. 

The  story  of  Wat  Tyler's  Rebellion  is  but  little  known,  but  the  hero 
of  this  story  passes  through  that  perilous  time  and  takes  part  in  the 
civil  war  in  Flanders  which  followed  soon  after.  Although  young  he  is 
thrown  into  many  exciting  and  dangerous  adventures,  through  which 
he  passes  with  great  coolness  and  much  credit.  Brought  into  royal  favor 
he  is  knighted  for  bravery  on  the  battlefield,  and  saving  the  lives  of 
some  wealthy  merchants,  he  realizes  fortune  with  his  advancement  and 
rank.  New  light  is  thrown  on  the  history  of  this  time  and  the  whole 
story  is  singularly  interesting. 

WITH  MOORE  AT  CORUNNA. 

A  Story  of  the  Peninsular  War.  With  12-full  page  illustra- 
tions by  WAL  PAGET.  12mo,  $1,50. 

A  bright  Irish  lad,  Terence  O'Connor,  is  living  with  his  widowed  father, 
Captain  O'Connor  of  the  Mayo  Fusiliers,  with  the  regiment  at  the  time 
when  the  Peninsular  war  began.  Upon  the  regiment  being  ordered  to 
Spain,  Terence  received  a  commission  of  ensign  and  accompanied  it. 
On  the  way  out,  by  his  quickness  of  wit  he  saved  the  ship  from  capture 
and,  instead,  aided  in  capturing  two  French  privateers.  Arriving  in 
Portugal,  he  ultimately  gets  appointed  as  aid  to  one  of  the  generals  of  a 
division.  By  his  bravery  and  great  usefulness  throughout  the  war,  he 
is  rewarded  by  a  commission  as  Colonel  in  the  Portuguese  army  and 
there  rendered  great  service,  being  mentioned  twice  in  the  general  orders 
of  the  Duke  of  Wellington.  The  whole  story  is  full  of  exciting  military 
experiences  and  gives  a  most  careful  and  accurate  account  of  the  vari- 
ous campaigns. 


BOOKS  FOR  YOUSG  PEOPLE 


BY  G.  A,  HENTY 

"  No  country  nor  epoch  of  history  is  there  which  Mr.  Henty  does  not  know, 
and  what  is  really  remarkable  is  that  he  always  writes  well  and  interestingly." 
— New  York  Times,  

AT  AGINCOURT 

A  Tale  of  the  White  Hoods  of  Paris.  With  12  full-page 
Illustrations  by  WALTER  PAGET.  Crown  8vo,  olivine 
edges,  $1.50. 

The  story  begins  in  a  grim  feudal  castle  in  Normandie,  on  the  old 
frontier  between  France  and  England,  where  the  lad  Guy  Aylmer  had 
gone  to  join  his  father's  old  friend  Sir  Eustace  de  Villeroy.  The  times 
were  troublous  and  soon  the  French  king  compelled  Lady  Margaret  de 
Villeroy  with  her  children  to  go  to  Pans  as  hostages  for  Sir  Eustace's 
loyalty.  Guy  Aylmer  went  wi  h  her  as  her  page  and  body-guard.  Paris 
was  turbulent  and  the  populace  riotous.  Soon  the  guild  of  the  butchers, 
adopting  white  hoods  as  their  uniform,  seized  the  city,  and  besieged 
the  house  where  our  hero  and  his  charges  lived.  After  desperate  fighting, 
the  white  hoods  were  beaten  and  our  hero  and  his  charges  escaped  from  the 
city,  and  from  France.  He  came  back  to  share  in  the  great  battle  of 
Agincourt,  and  when  peace  followed  returned  with  honor  to  England. 

ON  THE  IRRAWADDY 

A  Story  of  the  First  Burmese  War.  With  8  full-page  Illus- 
trations by  W.  H.  OVEREND.  Crown  8vo,  olivine  edges, 
$1.50. 

The  hero  having  an  uncle,  a  trader  on  the  Indian  and  Burmese 
rivers,  goes  out  to  join  him.  Soon  after  war  is  declared  by  Bur- 
mah  against  England  and  he  is  drawn  into  it.  His  familiarity  with  the 
Burmese  customs  and  language  make  him  of  such  use  that  he  is  put 
upon  Sir  Archibald  Campbell's  staff.  He  has  many  experiences  and 
narrow  escapes  in  battles  and  in  scouting.  With  half-a-dozen  men  he 
rescues  his  cousin  who  had  been  taken  prisoner,  and  in  the  flight  they  are 
besieged  in  an  old  ruined  temple.  His  escape  and  ultimate  successful 
return  to  England  show  what  a  clear  head  with  pluck  can  do. 

WITH  COCHRANE  THE  DAUNTLESS 

A  Tale  of  the  Exploits  of  Lord  Coehrane  in  South  American 
Waters.  With  12  full-page  Illustrations  by  W.  H. 
MARGETSON.  Crown  8vo,  olivine  edges,  $1.50. 

The  hero  of  this  story,  an  orphaned  lad,  accompanies  Coehrane  as 
midshipman,  and  serves  in  the  war  between  Chili  and  Peru.  He  has 
many  exc  ting  adventures  in  battles  by  sea  and  land,  is  taken  prisoner 
and  condemned  to  death  by  the  Inquisition,  but  escapes  by  a  long  and 
thrilling  flight  across  South  America  and  down  the  Amazon,  piloted  by 
two  faithful  Indians.  His  pluck  and  coolness  prove  him  a  fit  companion 
to  Coehrane  the  Dauntless,  and  his  final  success  is  well  deserved. 


BOOKS  FOR  YOUXG  PEOPLE 


BY  G.  A.  HENTY 

"  Boys  like  stirring  adventures,  and  Sir.  Henty  Is  a  master  of  this  method 
of  composition."— Xew  York  Times. 


A  KNIGHT  OF  THE  WHITE  CROSS 

A  Tale  of  the  Siege  of  Rhodes.  With  12  full-page  Illustra- 
tions by  RALPH  PEACOCK,  and  a  Plan.  Crown  8vo,  olivine 
edges,  $1.50. 

Oervaise  Tresham,  the  hero  of  this  story,  joins  the  Order  of  the 
Knights  of  St.  John,  and  leaving  England  he  proceeds  to  the  stronghold 
of  Rhodes.  Subsequently,  Gervaise  is  made  a  Knight  of  the  White 
Cross  for  valor,  while  soon  after  he  is  appointed  commander  of  a  war- 
galley,  and  in  his  first  voyage  destroys  a  fleet  of  Moorish  corsairs.  Dur- 
ing one  of  his  cruises  the  young  knight  is  attacked  on  shore,  captured 
after  a  desperate  struggle,  and  sold  into  slavery  in  Tripoli.  He  succeeds 
in  escaping,  however,  and  returns  to  Rhodes  in  time  to  take  part  in  the 
splendid  defence  of  that  fortress.  Altogether  a  fine  chivalrous  tale  of 
var'cd  interest  and  full  of  noble  daring 

THE  TIGER  OF  MYSORE 

A  Story  of  the  War  with  Tippoo  Saib.  With  12  full-page 
Illustrations  by  W.  H.  MAKGETSON,  and  a  Map.  Crown 
8vo,  olivine  edges,  $1.50. 

Dick  Holland,  whose  father  is  supposed  to  be  a  captive  of  Tippoo  Saib, 
goes  to  India  to  help  him  to  escape.  He  joins  the  army  under  Lord 
Cornwallis,  and  takes  part  in  the  campaign  against  Tippoo.  Afterwards, 
he  assumes  a  disguise,  enters  Seringapatam,  the  cap  tal  of  Mysore,  res- 
cues Tippoo's  harem  from  a  tiger,  and  is  appointed  to  high  office  by  the 
tyrant.  In  this  capacity  Dick  visits  the  hill  fortresses,  still  in  search  of 
his  father,  and  at  last  he  discovers  him  in  the  great  stronghold  of  Savan- 
droog.  The  hazardous  rescue  through  the  enemy's  country  is  at  length 
accomplished,  and  ttie  yonng  fellow's  dangerous  mission  is  done. 

THROUGH  RUSSIAN  SNOWS 

A  Story  of  Napoleon's  Retreat  from  Moscow.  With  8  full- 
page  Illustrations  by  W.  H.  OVEREND,  and  3  Maps.  Crown 
8vo,  olivine  edges,  $1.50. 

The  hero,  Julian  Wyatt,  after  several  adventures  with  smugglers,  by 
whom  he  is  handed  over  a  prisoner  to  the  French,  regains  his  freedom 
and  joins  Napoleon's  army  in  the  Russian  campaign,  and  reaches  Moscow 
with  the  victorious  Emperor.  Then,  when  the  terrible  retreat  begins, 
Julian  finds  himself  in  the  rear  guard  of  the  French  army,  fighting  des- 
perately, league  by  league,  against  famine,  snow-storms,  wolves,  and 
Russians.  Ultimately  he  escapes  out  of  the  general  disaster,  after  rescu- 
ing the  daughter  of  a  Russian  Count ;  makes  his  way  to  St.  Petersburg, 
and  then  returns  to  England.  A  story  with  an  excellent  plot,  exciting 
adventures,  and  splendid  historical  interests. 


BOOKS  FOR   TOUSO  PEOPLE 


BY  Q,  A.  HENTY 

•  Here  we  have  Mr.  George  Henty— the  Boys'  Own  Author."— Punch. 


WLF  THE  SAXON 

A  Story  of  the  Norman  Conquest.  By  G.  A.  HENTY.  With 
12  full-page  Illustrations  by  RALPH  PEACOCK.  Crown 
8vo,  olivine  edges,  $1.50. 

The  hero  is  a  young  thane  who  wins  the  favor  of  Earl  Harold  and  be- 
comes one  of  his  retinue.  When  Harold  becomes  King  of  England  Wulf 
assists  in  the  Welsh  wars,  and  takes  part  against  the  Norsemen  at  the 
Battle  of  Stamford  Bridge.  When  William  of  Normandy  invades  Eng- 
land, Wulf  is  with  the  English  host  at  Hastings,  and  stands  by  his  king 
to  the  last  in  the  mighty  struggle.  Altogether  this  is  a  noble  tale. 
Wulf  himself  is  a  rare  example  of  Saxon  vigor,  and  the  spacious  back- 
ground of  stormf  ul  history  lends  itself  admirably  to  heroic  romance. 

BERIC  THE  BRITON 

A  Story  of  the  Roman  Invasion.  By  G.  A.  HENTY.  With 
12  full-page  Illustrations  by  W.  PARKINSON.  Crown  8vo, 
olivine  edges,  §1.50. 

This  story  deals  with  the  invasion  of  Britain  by  the  Roman  legionaries. 
Beric,  who  is  a  boy-chief  of  a  British  tribe,  takes  a  prominent  part  in 
the  insurrection  under  Boadicea:  and  after  the  defeat  of  that  heroic 
queen  (in  A.D.  62)  he  continues  the  struggle  in  the  fen-country.  Ulti- 
mately Beric  is  defeated  and  carried  captive  to  Rome,  where  he  is  trained 
in  the  exercise  of  arms  in  a  school  of  gladiators.  Such  is  the  skill  which 
he  there  acquires  that  he  succeeds  in  saving  a  Christian  maid  by  slaying 
a  lion  in  the  arena,  and  is  rewarded  by  being  made  librarian  in  the  palac-*, 
and  the  personal  protector  of  Nero.  Finally  he  escapes  from  this  irksome 
service,  organizes  a  band  of  outlaws  in  Calabria,  defies  the  power  of 
Rome,  and  at  length  returns  to  Britain,  where  he  becomes  a  wise  ruler 
of  his  own  peoole. 

WHEN  LONDON  BURNED 

A  Story  of  the  Plague  and  the  Fire.  By  G.  A.  HENTY.  With 
12  full-page  Illustrations  by  J.  FINNEMOBE.  Crown  8vo, 
olivine  edges,  $1.50. 

The  hero  of  this  story  was  the  son  of  a  nobleman  who  had  lost  bis  estates 
during  the  troublous  times  of  the  Commonwealth.  Instead  of  hanging 
idly  about  the  court  seeking  favors.  Cyril  Shenstone  determined  to  main- 
tain himself  by  honest  work.  During  the  Great  Plague  and  the  Great  Fire, 
which  visited  London  with  such  terrible  results,  Sir  Cyril  wa*  prominent 
among  those  who  brought  help  to  the  panic-stricken  inhabitants.  This 
tale  has  rich  variety  of  interest,  both  national  and  personal,  and  in  the 
hero  you  have  an  English  lad  of  the  noblest  type — wise,  humane,  and 
unselfish. 


BOOKS  FOX  rOUXG  PEOPLE 


BY  G.  A. HENTY 

1  Ask  for  Henty,  and  see  that  you  get  him."— Punch. 


THE  DASH  FOR  KHARTOUM 

A  Tale  of  the  Nile  Expedition.  By  G.  A.  HENTY.  With  10 
full-page  Illustrations  by  JOHN  SCHONBERO  and  J.  NASH. 
Crown  8vo,  olivine  edges,  $1.50. 

In  the  record  of  recent  British  history  there  is  no  more  captivating  page 
for  boys  than  the  story  of  the  Nile  campaign,  and  the  attempt  to  rescue 
General  Gordon.  For,  in  the  difficulties  which  the  expedition  encount- 
ered, in  the  perils  which  it  overpassed,  and  in  its  final  tiagic  disappoint- 
ments, are  found  all  the  excitements  of  romance,  as  well  as  the  fascination 
which  belongs  to  real  events. 

.BONNIE  PRINCE  CHARLIE 

A  Tale  of  Fontenoy  and  Culloden.  By  G.  A.  HENTY.  With 
12  full-page  Illustrations  by  GORDON  BROWNE.  Crown 
8vo,  olivine  edges,  $1.50. 

The  adventures  of  the  son  of  a  Scotch  officer  in  French  service.  The 
boy,  brought  up  by  a  Glasgow  bailie,  is  arrested  for  aiding  a  Jacobite 
agent,  escapes,  is  wrecked  on  the  French  coast,  reaches  Paris,  and  serves 
with  the  French  army  at  Dettingen.  He  kills  his  father's  foe  in  a  duel, 
and  escaping  to  the  coast,  shares  the  adventures  of  Prince  Charlie,  but 
finally  settles  happily  in  Scotland. 

UNDER  DRAKE'S  FLAG 

A  Tale  of  the  Spanish  Main.  By  G.  A.  HENTY.  With  12 
full-page  Illustrations  by  GORDON  BROWNE.  Crown  8vo, 
olivine  edges,  $1.50. 

A  story  of  the  days  when  England  and  Spain  struggled  for  the  suprem- 
acy of  the  sea.  Tne  heroes  sail  as  lads  with  Drake  in  the  Pacific  expe- 
dition, and  in  his  great  voyage  of  circumnavigation.  The  historical 
portion  of  the  story  is  absolutely  to  be  relied  upon,  but  this  will  perhaps 
be  less  attractive  than  the  great  variety  of  exciting  adventure  through 
which  the  young  heroes  pass  in  the  course  of  their  voyages. 

WITH  WOLFE  IN  CANADA 

Or,  The  Winning  of  a  Continent.  By  G.  A.  HENTY.  With  12 
full-page  Illustrations  by  GORDON  BROWNE.  Crown  8vo, 
olivine  edges,  $1.50. 

Mr.  Henty  here  gives  an  account  of  the  struggle  between  Bri'ain  and 
France  for  supremacy  in  the  North  American  continent.  The  fall  of 
Quebec  decided  that  the  An<jlo-Saxon  race  should  predominatp  in  the 
New  World ;  and  that  Enjlish  and  American  commerce,  the  English 
language,  and  English  literature,  should  spread  right  round  the  globe. 


BOOKS  FOR  YOUXG  PEOPLE 


BY  G.  A.  HENTY 

'  Mr.  Henty  Is  one  of  the  best  of  story-tellers  for  young  people." — Spectator. 


BY  PIKE  AND  DYKE 

A  Tale  of  the  Rise  of  the  Dutch  Republic.  By  G.  A.  HENTY. 
With  10  full-page  Illustrations  by  MAYNAKD  BROWN,  and 
4  Maps.  Crown  8vo,  olivine  edges,  $1.50. 

In  this  story  Mr.  Henty  traces  the  adventures  and  brave  deeds  of  an 
English  boy  in  the  household  of  the  ablest  man  of  his  age  —William  the 
Silent.  Edward  Martin,  the  son  of  an  English  sea-captain,  enters  the 
service  of  the  Princa  as  a  volunteer,  and  is  employed  by  him  in  many 
dangerous  and  responsible  missions,  in  the  discharge  of  which  he  passes 
through  the  great  sieges  of  the  time. 

BY  ENGLAND'S  AID 

Or,  The  Freeing  of  the  Netherlands  (1585-1604).  By  G.  A. 
HENTY.  With  10  full-page  Illustrations  by  ALFRED  PEABSE, 
and  4  Maps.  Crown  8vo,  olivine  edges,  $1.50. 

The  story  of  two  English  lads  who  go  to  Holland  as  pages  in  the  service 
of  one  of  "the  fighting  Veres. "  After  many  adventures  by  sea  and  land, 
one  of  the  lads  finds  himself  on  board  a  Spanish  ship  at  the  time  of  the 
defeat  of  the  Armada,  and  escapes  only  to  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  Cor- 
sairs. He  is  successful  in  getting  back  to  Spain,  and  regains  bis  native 
country  after  the  capture  of  Cadiz. 

IN  THE  HEART  OF  THE  ROCKIES 

A  Story  of  Adventure  in  Colorado.  By  G.  A.  HENTY.  With 
8  full-page  Illustrations  by  G.  C.  HINDLEY.  Crown  8vo, 
olivine  edges,  SI. 50. 

Prom  first  to  last  this  is  a  story  of  splendid  hazard.  The  hero,  Tom 
Wade,  goes  to  seek  his  uncle  in  Colorado,  who  is  a  hunter  and  gold- 
digger,  and  he  is  discovered,  after  many  dangers,  out  on  the  plains  with 
some  comrades.  Going  in  quest  of  a  gold  mine  the  little  band  is  spied 
by  Indians,  chased  across  the  Bad  Lands,  and  overwhelmed  by  a  snow- 
storm in  the  mountains. 

BY  RIGHT  OF  CONQUEST 

Or,  With  Cortez  in  Mexico.  By  G.  A.  HENTY.  With  10  full- 
page  Illustrations  by  W.  S.  STAGEY,  and  2  Maps.  Crown 
8vo,  olivine  edges,  $1.50. 

With  the  Conquest  of  Mexico  as  the  ground-work  of  his  story, 
Mr.  Henty  has  interwoven  the  adventures  of  an  English  youth. 
He  is  beset  by  many  perils  among  the  natives,  but  by  a  ruse  he  obtains 
the  protection  of  the  Spaniards,  and  after  the  fall  of  Mexico  he  succeeds 
in  regaining  his  native  shore,  wit  h  a  fortune  and  a  charming  Aztec  bride. 


BOOKS  FOR    YOUXQ  PEOPL& 


BY  G.  A.  HENTY 

"  No  living  writer  of  books  for  boys  writes  to  better  purpose  than  Mr.  G.  A. 
Henty." — Philadelphia  Press. 


TRUE  TO  THE  OLD  FLAG 

A  Tale  of  the  American  War  of  Independence.  By  G.  A. 
HENTY.  With  12  full-page  Illustrations  by  GORDON 
BROWNE.  Crown  8vo,  olivine  edges,  $1.50. 

A  graphic  and  vigorous  story  of  the  American  Revolution,  which  paints 
the  scenes  with  great  power,  and  does  full  justice  to  the  pluck  and  de- 
termination of  the  soldiers  during  the  unfortunate  struggle. 

THE  LION  OF  ST.  MARK 

A  Tale  of  Venice  in  the  Fourteenth  Century.  By  G.  A.  HENTY. 
With  10  full-page  Illustrations  by  GORDON  BROWNE. 
Crown  8vo,  olivine  edges,  $1.50. 

A  story  of  Venice  at  a  period  when  her  strength  and  splendor  were  put 
to  the  severest  tests.  The  hero  displays  a  fine  sense  and  manliness  which 
carry  him  safely  through  an  atmosphere  of  intrigue,  crime,  and  blood- 
shed. He  contributes  largely  to  the  victories  of  the  Venetians  at  Porto 
d'Anzo  and  Chioggia,  and  finally  wins  the  hand  of  the  daughter  of  one 
of  the  chief  men  of  Venice. 


THE  LION  OF  THE  NORTH 

A  Tale  of  Gustavus  Adolphus  and  the  Wars  of  Religion.  By 
G.  A.  HENTY.  With  12  full-page  Illustrations  by  JOHN 
SCHONBERG.  Crown  8vo,  olivine  edges,  $1.50. 

In  this  story  Mr.  Henty  gives  the  history  of  the  first  part  of  the  Thirty 
Years'  War.  The  issue  had  its  importance,  which  has  extended  to  the 
present  day,  as  it  established  religious  freedom  in  Germany.  The  army 
of  the  chivalrous  King  of  Sweden  was  largely  composed  of  Scotchmen, 
and  among  these  was  the  hero  of  the  story. 


IN  GREEK  WATERS 

A  Story  of  the  Grecian  War  of  Independence  (1821-1827). 
By  G.  A.  HENTY.  With  12  full-page  Illustrations  by  W.  S. 
STACEY,  and  a  Map.  Crown  8vo,  olivine  edges,  $1.50. 

Deals  with  the  revolt  of  the  Greeks  in  1821  against  Turkish  oppression. 
Mr.  Beveridge  and  his  son  Horace  fit  out  a  privateer,  load  it  with 
military  stores,  and  set  sail  for  Greece.  They  rescue  the  Christians, 
relieve  the  captive  Greeks,  and  fight  the  Turkish  war  vessels. 


BOOKS   FOR   YOVtrCt  PEOPLti 


BY  G.  A.  HENTY 

'  Mr.  Henty's  books  never  fall  to  Interest  boy  readers."— Academy. 


WITH  CLIVE  IN  INDIA 

Or,  The  Beginnings  of  an  Empire.  By  G.  A.  HENTY.  With 
12  full-page  Illustrations  by  GORDON  BROWNE,  and  a  Map. 
Crown  Hvo,  olivine  edges,  $1.50. 

The  period  between  the  landing  of  Clive  in  India  and  the  close  of  his 
career  was  eventful  in  the  extreme.  At  its  commencement  the  English 
were  traders  existing  on  sufferance  of  the  native  princes;  at  its  close  they 
were  masters  of  Bengal  and  of  the  greater  part  of  Southern  India.  The 
author  has  given  a  full  account  of  the  events  of  that  stirring  time,  while 
he  combines  with  his  narrative  a  thrilling  tale  of  daring  and  adventure. 

THE  YOUNG  CARTHAGINIAN 

A  Story  of  the  Times  of  Hannibal.  By  G.  A.  HENTY.  With 
12  full-page  Illustrations  by  C.  J.  STANILAND,  R.I.  Crown 
8vo,  olivine  edges,  $1.50. 

There  is  no  better  field  for  romance- writers  in  the  whole  of  history  than 
the  momentous  struggle  between  the  Romans  and  Carthaginians  for  the 
empire  of  the  world.  Mr.  Henty  has  had  the  full  advantage  of  much  un- 
exhausted picturesque  and  impressive  material,  and  has  thus  been  enabled 
to  form  a  striking  historic  background  to  as  exciting  a  story  of  adventure 
as  the  keenest  appetite  could  wish. 

FOR  THE  TEMPLE 

A  Tale  of  the  Fall  of  Jerusalem.  By  G.  A.  HENTY.  With  10 
fall-page  Illustrations  by  S.  J.  SOLOMON,  and  a  colored 
Map.  Crown  8vo,  olivine  edges,  $1.50. 

Mr  Henty  here  weaves  into  the  record  of  Josephus  an  admirable  and 
attractive  story.  The  troubles  in  the  district  of  Tiberias,  the  march  of  the 
legions,  the  sieges  of  Jotapata,  of  Gamala,  and  of  Jerusalem,  form  the 
impressive  setting  to  the  figure  of  the  lad  who  becomes  the  leader  of  a 
guerrilla  band  of  patriots,  fights  bravely  for  the  Temple,  and  after  a  brief 
term  of  slavery  at  Alexandria,  returns  to  his  Galilean  home. 

THROUGH  THE  FRAY 

A  Story  of  the  Luddite  Riots.  By  G.  A.  HENTY.  With  12 
full-page  Illustrations  by  H.  M.  PAGET.  Crown  8vo, 
olivine  edges,  $1.50. 

The  story  is  laid  in  Yorkshire  at  the  commencement  of  the  present  cen- 
tury, when  the  high  price  of  food  induced  by  the  war  and  the  introduction 
of  machinery  drove  the  working-classes  to  desperation,  and  caused  them 
to  band  themselves  in  that  wide-spread  organization  known  as  the  Luddite 
Society.  There  is  an  abundance  of  adventure  in  the  tale,  but  its  chief 
interest  lies  in  the  character  of  the  hero,  and  the  manner  in  which  he 
is  put  on  trial  for  his  life,  but  at  last  cornea  victorious  "through  the  fray." 


10  BOOKS  FOR  YOUSG   PEOPLE 


BY  G.  A.  HENTY 

<•  The  brightest  of  all  the  living  writers  whose  office  It  is  to  enchant  the 
boys."— Christian  Leader. 


CAPTAIN  BAYLEY'S  HEIR 

A  Tale  of  the  Gold  Fields  of  California.  By  G.  A.  HENTY. 
With  12  full-page  Illustrations  by  H.  M.  PAGET.  Crown 
8vo,  olivine  edges,  $1.50. 

A  frank,  manly  lad  and  his  cousin  are  rivals  in  the  heirship  of  a  consider- 
able prop? rty.  The  former  falls  into  a  trap  laid  by  the  latter,  and  while 
under  a  false  accusation  of  theft  foolishly  leaves  England  for  America. 
He  works  his  passage  before  the  mast, Joins  a  small  band  of  hunters, 
ci oases  a  tract  of  country  infested  with  Indians  to  the  Californian  gold 
diggings,  and  is  successful  both  as  digger  and  trader. 

IN  FREEDOM'S  CAUSE 

A  Story  of  Wallace  and  Brace.  By  G.  A.  HENTY.  With  12 
full-page  Illustrations  by  GOBDON  BROWNE.  Crown  8vo, 
olivine  edges,  $1.50. 

Relates  the  stirring  tale  of  the  Scottish  War  of  Independence.  The 
hero  of  the  tale  fought  under  both  Wallace  and  Bruce,  and  while  the 
strictest  historical  accuracy  has  been  maintained  with  respect  to  public 
events,  the  work  is  full  of  "hairbreadth  'scapes"  and  wild  adventure. 

A  JACOBITE  EXILE 

Being  the  Adventures  of  a  Young  Englishman  in  the  Service 
of  Charles  XII.  of  Sweden.  By  G.  A.  HENTY.  With  8 
full-page  Illustrations  by  PAUL  HAKDY,  and  a  Map.  Crown 
8vo,  olivine  edges,  $1.50. 

Sir  Marmaduke  Carstairs,  a  Jacobite,  is  the  victim  of  a  conspiracy,  and 
he  is  denounced  as  a  plotter  against  the  life  of  King  William.  He  flies  to 
Sweden,  accompanied  by  his  son  Charlie.  This  youth  joins  the  foreign 
legion  under  Charles  XII.,  and  takes  a  distinguished  part  in  several 
famous  campaigns  against  the  Russians  and  Poles. 

CONDEMNED  AS  A  NIHILIST 

A  Story  of  Escape  from  Siberia.  By  G.  A.  HENTY.  With  8 
full-page  Illustrations.  Crown  8vo,  olivine  edges,  $1.50. 

The  hero  of  this  story  is  an  English  boy  resident  in  St.  Petersburg. 
Through  two  student  friends  he  becomes  innocently  involved  in  various 
political  plots,  resulting  in  his  seizure  by  the  Russian  police  and  his  exile 
to  Siberia.  He  ultimately  escapes,  and,  after  many  exciting  adventures, 
he  reaches  Norway,  and  thence  home,  after  a  perilous  journey  which  lasts 
nearly  two  years. 


BOOKS  FOR  YOUKG  PEOPLE 


BY  G.  A.  HENTY 

"  Mr.  Henty  IB  one  of  our  most  successful  writers  of  historical  tales." 

—Scotsman. 

IN  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR 

The  Adventures  of  a  Westminster  Boy.  By  G.  A.  HENTT. 
"With  8  full-page  Illustrations  by  J.  SCHONBERG.  Crown 
8vo,  olivine  edges,  $1.50. 

Harry  Sandwith,  a  Westminster  boy,  becomes  a  resident  at  the  chateau 
of  a  French  marquis,  and  after  various  adventures  accompanies  the 
family  to  Paris  at  the  crisis  of  the  Revolution.  Imprisonment  and  death 
reduce  their  number,  and  the  hero  finds  himself  beset  by  perils  with  the 
three  young  daughters  of  the  house  in  his  charge.  After  hair-breadth 
escapes  they  reach  Nantes.  There  the  girls  are  condemned  to  death  in 
the  coffinships,  but  are  saved  by  the  unfailing  courage  of  their  boy- 
protector. 

ST.  GEORGE  FOR  ENGLAND 

A  Tale  of  Cressy  and  Poitiers.  By  G.  A.  HENTY.  With  8  full- 
page  Illustrations  by  GORDON  BROWNE.  Crown  8vo,  $1.50. 

No  portion  of  English  history  is  more  crowded  with  great  events  than 
that  of  the  reign  of  Edward  III.  Cressy  and  Poitiers ;  the  destruction  of 
the  Spanish  fleet ;  the  plague  of  the  Black  'Death  ;  the  Jacquerie  rising; 
these  are  treated  by  the  author  in  "  St.  George  for  England."  The  hero  of 
the  story,  although  of  good  family,  begins  life  as  a  London  apprentice, 
but  after  countless  adventures  and  perils  becomes  by  valor  and  good 
conduct  the  squire,  and  at  last  the  trusted  friend  of  the  Black  Prince. 

A  CHAPTER  OF  ADVENTURES 

Or,  Through  the  Bombardment  of  Alexandria.  By  G.  A. 
HENTY.  With  6  full-page  Illustrations  by  W.  H.  OVER- 
END.  Crown  8vo,  $1.25. 

A  coast  fishing  lad,  by  an  act  of  heroism,  secures  the  interest  of  a  ship- 
owner, who  places  him  as  an  apprentice  on  board  one  of  his  fhips.  In 
company  with  two  of  his  fellow-apprentices  he  is  left  behind,  at  Alex- 
andria, in  the  hands  of  the  revolted  Egyptian  troops,  and  is  present 
through  the  bombardment  and  the  scenes  of  riot  and  blood-shed  which 
accompanied  it. 

HELD  FAST  FOR  ENGLAND 

A  Tale  of  the  Siege  of  Gibraltar.  By  G.  A.  HENTY.  With 
8  full-page  Illustrations  by  GORDON  BROWNE.  Crown  8vo, 
olivine  edges,  $1.50. 

This  story  deals  with  one  of  the  most  memorable  sieges  in  history—- 
the siege  of  Gibraltar  in  1779-83  by  the  united  forces  of  France  and 
Spain.  With  land  forces,  fleets,  and  floating  batteries,  the  combined  re- 
sources of  two  great  nations,  this  grim  fortress  was  vainly  besieged  and 
bombarded.  The  hero  of  the  tale,  an  English  lad  resident  in  Gibraltar, 
takes  a  brave  and  worthy  part  in  the  long  defence,  and  it  is  through  his 
varied  experiences  that  we  learn  with  what  bravery,  resource,  and  te- 
nacity the  Rock  was  held  for  England. 


12  £00JT<?   FOR    roVXG  PKOPLtf 

BY  G.  A.  HENTY 

"  Among  writers  of  storiea  of  adventures  for  boys  Mr.  Henty  stands  In  the 
very  first  rank."— Academy.  

FOR  NAME  AND  FAME 

Or,  Through  Afghan  Passes.  By  G.  A.  HENTY.  With  8  full- 
page  Illustrations  by  GORDON  BKOWNE.  Crown  8vo, 
olivine  edges,  $1.50. 

An  interesting  story  of  the  last  war  in  Afghanistan.  The  hero,  after 
being  wrecked  and  going  through  many  stirring  adventures  among  the 
Malays,  finds  his  way  to  Calcutta  and  enlists  in  a  regiment  proceeding  to 
join  the  army  at  the  Afghan  passes.  He  accompanies  the  force  under 
General  Roberts  to  the  Peiwar  Kotal,  is  wounded,  taken  prisoner,  carried 
to  Cabul,  whence  he  is  transferred  to  Candahar,  and  takes  part  in  the 
final  defeat  of  the  army  of  Ayoub  Khan. 

ORANGE  AND  GREEN 

A  Tale  of  the  Boyne  and  Limerick.  By  G.  A.  HENTY.  With 
8  full -page  Illustrations  by  GORDON  BROWNE.  Crown 
8vo,  olivine  edges,  $1.50. 

The  record  of  two  typical  families — the  Davenants,  who,  having  come 
over  with  Strongbow,  had  allied  themselves  in  feeling  to  the  original  in- 
habitants ;  and  the  Whitefoots,  who  had  been  placed  by  Cromwell  over 
certain  domains  of  the  Davenants.  In  the  children  the  spirit  of  conten- 
tion has  given  place  to  friendship,  and  though  they  take  opposite  sides 
in  the  struggle  between  James  and  William,  their  good-will  and  mutual 
service  are  never  interrupted,  and  in  the  end  the  Davenants  come  hap- 
pily to  their  own  again. 

MAORI  AND  SETTLER 

A  Story  of  the  New  Zealand  War.  By  G.  A.  HENTY.  With 
8  full-page  Illustrations  by  ALFRED  PEARSE.  Crown  8vo, 
olivine  edges,  $1.50. 

The  Renshaws  emigrate  to  New  Zealand  during  the  period  of  the  war 
with  the  natives.  Wilfrid,  a  strong,  self-reliant,  courageous  lad,  is  the 
mainstay  of  the  household.  He  has  for  his  friend  Mr.  Atherton,  a  botan- 
ist and  naturalist  of  herculean  strength  and  unfailing  nerve  and  humor. 
In  the  adventures  among  the  Maoris,  there  are  many  breathless  moments 
in  which  the  odds  seem  hopelessly  against  the  party,  but  they  succeed  in 
establishing  themselves  happily  in  one  of  the  pleasant  New  Zealand 
valleys. 

A  FINAL  RECKONING 

A  Tale  of  Bush  Life  in  Australia.  By  G.  A.  HENTY.  With 
8  full -page  Illustrations  by  W.  B.  WOLLEN.  Crown  8vo, 
olivine  edges,  $1.50. 

The  hero,  a  young  English  lad,  after  rather  a  stormy  boyhood,  emi- 
grates to  Australia  and  gets  employment  as  an  officer  in  the  mounted 
police.  A  few  years  of  active  work  on  the  frontier,  where  he  has  many  a 
brush  with  both  natives  and  bush-rangers,  gain  him  promotion  to  a  cap- 
taincy, and  be  eventually  settles  down  to  the  peaceful  life  of  a  squatter. 


BOOKS  FOR    TOUKG  PEOPLE  13 

BY  G.  A.  HENTY 

'  Mr.  Henty's  books  are  welcome  visitors  in  the  home  circle."— Daily  News. 


THE  BRAVEST  OF  THE  BRAVE 

Or,  With  Peterborough  in  Spain.  By  G.  A.  HENTY.  With 
8  full-page  Illustrations  by  H.  M.  PAGET.  Crown  8vo, 
olivine  edges,  $1.50. 

There  are  few  great  leaders  whose  lives  and  actions  have  so  completely 
fallen  into  oblivion  as  those  of  the  Earl  of  Peterborough.  This  is  largely 
due  to  the  fact  that  they  were  overshadowed  by  the  glory  and  successes 
of  Marlborough.  His  career  as  General  extended  over  little  more  than 
a  year,  and  yet,  in  that  time,  he  showed  a  genius  for  warfare  which  has 
never  been  surpasred. 

THE  DRAGON  AND  THE  RAVEN 

Or,  The  Days  of  King  Alfred.  By  G.  A.  HENTY.  With  8  full- 
page  Illustrations  by  C.  J.  STANI&AND,  B.I.  Crown  8vo, 
olivine  edges,  $1.50. 

In  this  story  the  author  gives  an  account  of  the  fierce  struggle 
between  Saxon  and  Dane  for  supremacy  in  England,  and  presents  a  vivid 
picture  of  the  misery  and  ruin  to  which  the  country  was  reduced  by  the 
ravages  of  the  sea-wolves.  The  hero,  a  young  Saxon  thane,  takes  part  in 
all  the  battles  fought  by  King  Alfred.  He  is  d  i  iven  from  his  home,  takes 
to  the  sea,  and  resists  the  Danes  on  their  own  element,  and  being  pursued 
by  them  up  the  Seine,  is  present  at  the  long  and  desperate  siege  of  Paris. 

FACING  DEATH 

Or,  The  Hero  of  the  Vaughan  Pit.  A  Tale  of  the  Coal  Mines. 
By  G.  A.  HENTY.  With  8  full-page  Illustrations  by 
GOKDON  BROWNE.  Crown  8vo,  olivine  edges,  $1.50. 

"  Facing  Death  "  is  a  story  with  a  purpose.  It  is  intended  to  show  that 
a  lad  who  makes  up  his  mind  firmly  and  resolutely  that  he  will  rise  in 
life,  and  who  is  prepared  to  face  toil  and  ridicule  and  hardship  to  carry 
out  his  determination,  is  sure  to  succeed.  The  hero  of  the  story  is  a 
typical  British  boy,  dogged,  earnest,  generous,  and  though  "shamefaced" 
to  a  degree,  is  ready  to  face  death  in  the  discharge  of  duty. 

BY  SHEER  PLUCK 

A  Tale  of  the  Ashanti  War.  By  G.  A.  HENTY.  With  8  full- 
page  Illustrations  by  GORDON  BKOWNE.  Crown  8vo, 
olivine  edges,  $1.50. 

The  author  has  woven,  in  a  tale  of  thrilling  interest,  all  the  details  of 
the  Ashanti  campaign,  of  which  he  was  himself  a  witness.  His  hero, 
after  many  exciting  adventures  in  the  interior,  is  detained  a  prisoner  by 
the  king  just  before  the  outbreak  of  the  war,  but  escapes,  and  accom- 
panies the  Englit-h  expedition  on  their  march  to  Coomassie. 


14  BOOKS  FOR  TOVNG  PEOPLE 

BY  G.  A.  HENTY 

"  Mr.  Henty  might  with  entire  propriety  be  called  the  boys'  Sir  Walter 
Scott."— PtiilaOelphia  Press. 


THE  CAT  OF  BUBASTES 

A  Story  of  Ancient  Egypt.  By  G.  A.  HENTY.  With  8  full- 
page  Illustrations.  Crown  8vo,  olivine  edges,  $1.50. 

A  story  which  will  give  young  readers  an  unsurpassed  insight  into  the 
customs  of  the  Egyptian  people.  Amuba,  a  prince  of  the  Rebu  nation,  is 
carried  with  his  charioteer  Jethro  into  slavery.  They  become  inmates  of 
the  house  of  Ameres,  the  Egyptian  high-priest,  and  are  happy  in  his 
service  until  the  priest's  son  accidentally  kills  the  sacred  cat  of  Bubastes. 
In  an  outburst  of  popular  fury  Amerce  is  killed,  and  it  rests  with  Jethro 
and  Amuba  to  secure  the  escape  of  the  high-priest's  son  and  daughter. 

ONE  OF  THE  28™ 

A  Tale  of  Waterloo.  By  G.  A.  HENTY.  With  8  full-page  Il- 
lustrations by  W.  H.  OVEREND,  and  2  Maps.  Crown  8vo, 
olivine  edges,  $1.50. 

The  hero  of  this  story,  Ralph  Con  way,  has  many  varied  and  exciting 
adventures.  He  enters  the  army,  and  after  some  rough  service  in  Ire- 
land takes  part  in  the  Waterloo  campaign,  from  which  he  returns  with 
the  loss  of  an  arm,  but  with  a  substantial  fortune. 

STURDY  AND  STRONG 

Or,  How  George  Andrews  made  his  Way.  By  G.  A.  HENTY. 
With  4  full-page  Illustrations.  Crown  8vo,  $1.00. 

The  history  of  a  hero  of  everyday  life,  whose  love  of  truth,  clothing 
of  modesty,  and  innate  pluck,  carry  him,  naturally,  from  poverty  to  af- 
fluence. George  Andrews  in  an  example  of  character  with  i>pthing  to 
cavil  at,  and  stands  as  a  good  instance  of  chivalry  in  domestic  life. 

TALES  OF  DARING  AND  DANGER 

By  G.  A.  HENTY.  With  2  full -page  Illustrations.  Crown 
8vo,  75  cents. 

Containing  five  stories,  varied  in  scene  and  character,  but  all  of  ad- 
venturous interest  and  telling  of  youthful  heroism  under  dangerous  and 
trying  circumstances  on  land  and  on  sea. 

YARNS  ON  THE  BEACH 

By  G.  A.  HENTY.  With  2  full-page  Illustrations.  Crown 
8vo,  75  cents. 

This  book  should  find  special  favor  among  boys.  The  yarns  are  spun 
by  old  sailors,  and  are  admirably  calculated  to  foster  a  manly  spirit. 


BOOKS   FOR    TOVXG   PEOPLE 


BY  G.  A.  HENTY 

"Sorely  Mr.  Henty  should  understand  boys'  tastes  better  than  any  man 
living."—  The  Times. 

ST.  BARTHOLOMEW'S  EVE 

A  Tale  of  the  Huguenot  Wars.  By  G.  A.  HENTY.  With  12 
full-page  Illustrations  by  H.  J.  DRAPER,  and  a  Map. 
Crown  8vo,  olivine  edges,  81.50. 

The  hero,  Philip  Fletcher,  is  a  right  true  English  lad,  but  he  has  a 
French  connection  on  his  mother's  side.  This  kinship  induces  him  to 
cross  the  Channel  in  order  to  take  a  share  in  that  splendid  struggle  for 
freedom  known  as  the  Hugutnot  wars.  Naturally  he  sides  with  the 
Protestants,  distinguishes  himself  in  various  battles,  and  receives  rapid 
promotion  for  the  Zealand  daring  with  which  he  carries  out  se\  eral  secret 
missions.  It  is  an  enthralling  narrative  throughout. 

REDSKIN  AND  COW-BOY 

A  Tale  of  the  Western  Plains.  By  G.  A.  HENTY.  With  12 
full-page  Illustrations  by  ALFRED  PEABSE.  Crown  8vo, 
olivine  edges,  $1.50. 

The  central  interest  of  this  story  is  found  in  the  many  adventures  of  an 
English  lad  who  seeks  employment  as  a  cow-boy  on  a  cattle  ranch.  His 
experiences  during  a  "  round-up  "  present  in  picturesque  form  the  to'l- 
some,  exciting,  adventurous  life  of  a  cow-boy;  while  the  perils  of  a 
frontier  settlement  are  vividly  set  forth  in  an  Indian  raid,  accompaniid 
by  pillage,  capture,  and  recapture.  The  story  is  packed  full  of  breezy 
adventure. 

WITH  LEE  IN  VIRGINIA 

A  Story  of  the  American  Civil  War.  By  G.  A.  HENTY.  With 
10  full-page  Illustrations  by  GORDON  BROWNE,  and  6  Maps. 
Crown  8vo,  olivine  edges,  $1.50. 

The  story  of  a  young  Virginian  planter,  who,  after  bravely  proving  his 
sympathy  with  the  s'aves  of  brutal  masters,  serves  with  no  less  courage 
and  enthusiasm  under  Lee  and  Jackson  through  the  most  exciting  events 
of  the  struggle.  He  has  many  hairbreadth  escapes,  is  several  times 
wounded,  and  twice  taken  prisoner;  but  his  courage  and  readiness  and, 
in  two  cases,  the  devotion  of  a  black  servant  and  of  a  runaway  slave 
whom  he  had  assisted  bring  him  safely  through  all  difficulties. 

THROUGH  THE  SIKH  WAR 

A  Tale  of  the  Conquest  of  the  Punjaub.  By  G.  A.  HENTY. 
With  12  full-page  Illustrations  by  HAL  HURST,  and  a 
Map.  Crown  8vo,  olivine  edges,  $1-50. 

Percy  Groves,  a  spirited  English  lad,  joins  his  uncle  in  the  Pnnjanb, 
where  the  natives  are  in  a  state  of  revolt.  When  the  authorities  at  Lahore 
proclaim  war  Percy  joins  the  British  force  as  a  volunteer,  and  takes  a 
distinguished  share  in  the  famous  battles  of  the  Punjaub. 


16  BOOKS  FOR  YOUNG  PEOPLE 


BY  ROBERT  LEIGHTON 

1  Mr.  Lelghton'B  place  Is  In  the  front  rank  of  writers  of  boys'  books." 

—Standard. 


THE  GOLDEN  GALLEON 

Illustrated,  crown  8vo,  olivine  edges,  $1.50. 

This  is  a  story  of  Queen  Elizabeth's  time,  just  aftf  r  the  defeat  of  the 
Spanish  Armada.  Mr.  Leighton  introduces  in  his  work  the  great  s?a- 
fighters  of  Plymouth  town  —  Hawkins,  Drake,  Raleigh,  and  Richard 
Grenville. 

OLAF  THE  GLORIOUS 

By  ROBERT  LEIGHTON.     With   8   full -page   Illustrations  by 

RALPH  PEACOCK.  Crown  8vo,  olivine  edges,  $1.50. 
This  story  of  Olaf ,  King  of  Norway,  opens  with  his  being  found  living 
as  a  bond-slave  in  Esthonia,  and  follows  him  through  his  romantic  youth 
in  Russia.  Then  come  his  adventures  as  a  Viking,  his  raids  upon  the 
coasts  of  Scotland  and  England,  and  his  conversion  to  Christianity.  He 
returns  to  Norway  as  king,  and  converts  his  people  to  the  Christian 
faith. 

WRECK  OF  "THE  GOLDEN  FLEECE " 

The  Story  of  a  North  Sea  Fisher-boy.     By  ROBERT  LEIGHTON. 

With    8    full-page    Illustrations  by  FRANK  BBANGWYN. 

Crown  8vo,  olivine  edges,  $1.50. 

The  hero  is  a  parson's  son  who  is  apprenticed  on  board  a  Lowestoft 
fishing  lugger.  The  lad  suffers  many  buffet*  from  his  shipmates,  while 
the  storms  and  dangers  which  he  braved  are  set  forth  with  intense  f  ower. 

THE  THIRSTY  SWORD 

A  Story  of  the  Norse  Invasion  of  Scotland  (1262-63).  By 
ROBERT  LEIGHTON.  With  8  full-page  Illustrations  by 
ALFRED  PEARSE,  and  a  Map.  Crown  8vo,  olivine  edges, 
$1.50. 

This  story  tells  how  Roderic  MacAlpin,  the  sea-rover,  came  to  the  Isle 
of  Bute ;  how  he  slew  his  brother  in  Rothesay  Castle ;  how  the  earl's 
eldest  son  was  likewise  slain;  how  young  Kenric  now  became  king  of 
Bute,  and  vowed  vengeance  against  the  slayer  of  his  brother  and  father  ; 
an  I  fin.  Hy,  how  this  vow  was  kept,  when  Kenric  and  the  murderous 
sea-rover  met  at  midnight  and  ended  their  feud  in  one  last  great  fight. 

THE  PILOTS  OF  POMONA 

A  Story  of  the  Orkney  Islands.  By  ROBERT  LEIGHTON.  With 
8  full-page  Illustrations  by  JOHN  LEIGHTON,  and  a  Map. 
Crown  8vo,  olivine  edges,  $1.50. 

Halcro  Ericson,  the  hero,  happens  upon  many  exciting  adventures  and 
hardy  experiences,  through  which  he  carries  himself  with  quiet  courage. 
The  story  gives  a  vivid  presentation  of  life  in  these  far  northern  islands. 


BOOKS  FOR  YOUA'G  PEOPLE  IT 


BY  KIRK  MUNROE 


THE  "WHITE   CONQUERORS"  SERIES 


WITH  CROCKETT  AND  BOWIE 

Or,  Fighting  for  the  Lone  Star  Flag.    A  Tale  of  Texas.    With 
8  full-page  Illustrations  by  VICTOR  PERARD.    Crown  8vo, 

<R1    9^ 

•pl.ZO. 

The  story  is  of  the  Texas  revolution  in  1835,  when  American  Texans 
under  Sam  Houston,  Bowie,  Crockett,  and  Travis,  fought  for  relief  from 
the  intolerable  tyranny  of  the  Mexican  Santa  Ana.  The  hero,  Rex 
Hardin,  son  of  a  Texan  ranchman  and  graduate  of  an  American  military 
school,  takes  a  prominent  part  in  the  heroic  defense  of  the  Alamo,  the 
terrible  scenes  at  Golead,  and  the  final  triumph  at  San  Jacinto.  The 
historical  side  of  the  story  has  been  carefully  studied  and  its  localities 
rendered  familiar  by  a  special  trip  to  Texas,  undertaken  by  the  author 
for  that  purpose  within  a  year. 

THROUGH  SWAMP  AND  GLADE 

A  Tale  of  the  Seminole  "War.    By  KIRK  MUNROE.    With  8  full- 
page  Illustrations  by  VICTOB  PERARD.     Crown  8vo,  $1.25. 

In  this  new  story  Mr.  Munroe  opens  to  view  an  exceedingly  interesting 
period  of  American  history — the  period  of  the  Seminole  War  in  Florida. 
Coacoochee,  the  hero  of  the  story,  is  a  young  Indian  of  noble  birth,  the 
son  of  Philip  the  chieftain  of  the  Seminoles.  He  is  a  boy  at  the  time  of 
the  beginning  of  the  Seminole  troubles  and  grows  up  to  lead  his  tribe  in 
the  long  struggle  w  hich  resulted  in  the  Indians  being  driven  from  the 
north  of  Florida  down  to  the  distant  southern  wilderness.  It  is  full  of 
strange  adventure,  of  stirring  incident  and  rapid  action. 

AT  WAR  WITH  PONTIAC 

Or,  The  Totem  of  the  Bear.     A  Tale  of  Keel  coat  and  Redskin. 

By  KIRK  MUNROE.     With   8   full-page  Illustrations  by 

J.  FINNEHORE.     Crown  8vo,  $1.25. 

A  story  of  old  days  in  America,  when  Detroit  was  a  frontier  town  and 
the  shores  of  Lak*  Erie  were  held  by  hostile  Indians  under  Pontiac. 
The  hero,  Donald  Hester,  goes  in  search  of  his  sister  Edith,  -who  has 
been  captured  by  the  Indians.  Strange  and  terrible  are  his  experiences  ; 
for  he  is  wounded,  taken  prisoner,  condemned  to  be  turned,  and  con- 
trives to  escape.  In  the  end  there  is  peace  between  Pontiac  and  the 
English,  and  all  things  terminate  happily  for  the  hero.  One  dares  not 
skip  a  page  of  this  enthralling  story. 

THE  WHITE  CONQUERORS 

A  Tale  of  Toltec  and  Aztec.     By  KIRK  MUNROE.    With  8  full- 
page  Illustrations  by  W.  S.  STACET.     Crown  8vo,  $1.25. 
This  story  deals  with    the   Conquest  of  Mexico  by  Cortes  and  his 
Spaniards,  the  "White  Conquerors,"  who,  after  many  deeds  of  valor, 
pushed   their  way  into  the  great  Aztec  kingdom  and  established  their 
power  in  the  wondrous   city   where  Montezuma  reigned    in   barbaric 
splendor. 


18  BOOKS  FOR  YOUNG  PEOPLE 

BY  HARRY  COLLINQWOOD 

THE  LOG  OF  A  PRIVATEERSMAN 

By  HARRY  COLLINGWOOD.  With  12  full-page  Illustrations  by 
W.  RAINEY,  R.I.  Crown  8vo,  olivine  edges,  §1.50. 

In  the  war  between  Napoleon  and  the  British,  many  privateers  were 
sent  out  from  England  to  seize  and  destroy  the  French  merchant  vessels. 
On  one  of  these  George  Bowen  went  as  second  mate.  Long  distance 
duels  at  sea,  fights  at  close  quarters,  tierce  boarding  attacks,  capture  and 
recapture,  flight  and  pursuit,  storm  and  wreck,  fire  at  sea  and  days  with- 
out food  or  water  in  a  small  boat  on  the  ocean,  are  some  of  the  many 
thrilling  experiences  our  hero  passed  through. 

THE  LOG  OF  "THE  FLYING  FISH." 

A  Story  of  Aerial  and  Submarine  Peril  and  Adventure.     By 
HARRY  COLLING  WOOD.     With  12  full-page  Illustrations  by 
GORDON  BROWNE.     Crown  8vo,  $1.00. 
In  this  story  the  aim  of  the  author  has  been,  not  only  to  interest  and 

amuse,  but  also  to  stimulate  a  taste  for  scientific  study. 

THE  MISSING  MERCHANTMAN. 

By  HARRY  COLLINGWOOD.    With  6  full-page  Pictures  by  W. 

H.  OVEREND.     Crown  8vo,  £1.00. 

A  fine  Australian  clipper  is  seized  by  the  crew ;  the  passengers  are 
landed  on  one  deserted  island,  the  captain  and  a  junior  officer  on  another  ; 
and  the  young  hero  of  the  story  is  kept  on  board  to  navigate  the  ship, 
which  the  mutineers  reftt  as  a  private  vessel.  After  many  adventures 
Ned  succeeded  in  carrying  off  the  ship,  and  in  picking  up  the  captain 
and  the  passengers. 

THE  CONGO  ROVERS 

A  Tale  of  the  Slave  Squadron.  By  HARRY  COLLINGWOOD. 
With  8  full-page  Ilhistrations  by  J.  SCHONBERG.  Crown 
8vo,  olivine  edges,  SI. 50. 

The  scene  of  this  thrilling  tale  is  laid  on  the  west  coast  of  Afr'ca 
among  the  slavers. 

THE  ROVER'S  SECRET 

A  Tale  of  the  Pirate  Cays  and  Lagoons  of  Ciiba.  By  HARRY 
COLLINGWOOD.  With  6  full-page  Illustrations  by  W.  C. 
SYSIONS.  Crown  8vo,  §1.00. 

The  hero  of  "  The  Rover's  Secret,"  a  young  officer  of  the  British  navy, 
narrates  his  peculiar  experiences  in  childhood  and  his  subsequent  perils 
and  achievements. 

THE  PIRATE  ISLAND 

A   Story  of  the   South  Pacific.      By  HARRY  COLLIN-GWOOD. 
Illustrated  by  8  full-page  Pictures  by  C.  J.  STANILAND 
and  J.  R.  WELLS.     Olivine  edges.    Crown  8vo,  §1.50. 
This  story  details  the  adventures  of  a  lad  who  was  found  in  his  infancy 
on  board  a  wreck,   and  is  adopted  by  a  fisherman.     Going  to  sea,   he 
forms  one  of  a  party  who,  after  being  burned   out  of  their  ship,  are 
picked  up  by  a  pirate  brig  and  taken  to  the  "Pirate  Island,"  where 
they  have  many  thrilling  adventures. 


BOOKS  FOR  TOUXG  PEOPLE  19 


BY  PROFESSOR  A,  J.  CHURCH 


LORDS  OF  THE  WORLD 

A  Story  of  the  Fall  of  Carthage  and  Corinth.  By  Professor 
A.  J.  CHURCH.  With  12  full-page  Illustrations  by  RALPH 
PEACOCK.  Crown  8vo,  olivine  edges,  §1.50. 

The  scene  of  this  story  centres  in  the  destruction  of  Carthage  by  the 
Romans.  The  young  hero  is  captured  by  the  Romans,  but  wearing  the 
dress  of  his  twin  sister,  escapes  death.  Entering  the  army  of  Carthage 
he  is  in  the  thick  of  the  long  conflict  and  passes  through  many  thrilling 
adventures.  He  is  present  at  the  final  scene,  and  that  awful  catastrophe 
is  most  vividly  told.  The  story  is  full  of  valuable  historical  details  and 
the  interest  never  Sags. 

TWO  THOUSAND  YEARS  AGO 

Or,  The  Adventures  of  a  Roman  Boy.  By  Professor  A.  J, 
CHURCH.  With  12  full-page  Illustrations  by  ADRIEN 
MARIE.  Crown  8vo,  olivine  edges,  $1-50. 

The  hero  is  a  young  Roman  who  has  a  very  chequered  career,  being 
now  a  captive  in  the  hands  of  Spartacns,  again  an  officer  on  board  a 
vessel  detailed  for  the  suppression  of  the  pirates,  and  anon  a  captive 
once  more,  on  a  pirate  ship. 

BYS.  BARING-GOULD 


GRETTIR  THE  OUTLAW 

A  Story  of  Iceland.     By  S.  BARING-GOULD.     With   10  full- 
page  Illustrations  by  M.  ZENO  DIEMER,  and   a   Colored 
Map.     Crown  8vo,  olivine  edges,  SI. 50. 
No  boy  will  be  able  to  withstand  the  magic  of  such  scrnes  as  the  fight 

of  Grettir  with  twelve  bearserks,  and  the  wrestle  with  Karr  the  Old  in 

the  chamber  of  the  dead. 


BY  F.  FRANKFORT  MOORE 


HIGHWAYS  AND  HIGH  SEAS 

Cyril    Harley's   Adventures    on    Both.       By  F.   FRANKFORT 
MOORE.   With  8  full-page  Illustrations  by  ALFRED  PEARSE. 
Crown  8vo,  olivine  edges,  $1.50. 
The  story  belongs  to  a  period  wben  highways  meant  post-cbaisrg, 

coaches,  and  highwaymen,  and  when  high  teas  meant  privateers  and 

smugglers. 

UNDER  HATCHES 

Or,  Ned  Woodthorpe's  Adventures.    By  F.  FRANKFORT  MOORE. 

With  8  full-page  Illustrations  by  A.  FORESTIER.     Crown 

8vo,  olivine  edges,  $1-50. 

In  rescuing  another  lad  from  drowning,  Ned  Wbodthorpe  is  taken  on 
board  a  convict  ship.  After  a  feries  of  exciting  events  the  convicts  and 
crew  obtain  the  mastery.  Ultimately  the  ship  is  recaptured  and  Ned 
and  his  friends  escape  from  their  troubles. 


20  BOOK3  FOR  YOUNG  PEOPLE 

BY  GEORGE   MANVILLE   FENN 

"  Mr.  Penn  is  in  the  front  rank  ol  writers  for  boys."— Li verpool  Mercury. 


DICK  O'  THE  FENS 

A  Romance  of  the  Great  East  Swamp.  By  GEORGE  MANVILLE 
FENN.  With  12  full-page  Illustrations  by  FRANK  DADD. 
Crown  8vo,  olivine  edges,  81.50. 

Dick  o'  the  Fens  and  Tom  o'  Grirasey  are  the  sons  of  a  squire  and  a 
farmer  living  on  the  edge  of  one  of  the  vast  fen  wastes,  and  their  adven- 
tures are  of  unusual  interest.  Shooting  and  fishing  experiences  are  intro- 
duced in  a  manner  which  should  stimulate  the  faculty  of  observation,  and 
give  a  healthy  love  for  country  life ;  while  the  record  of  the  fen-men's 
stealthy  resistance  to  the  great  draining  scheme  is  full  of  the  keenest  in- 
terest. The  ambushes  and  shots  in  the  mist  and  dark,  the  incendiary 
fires,  and  the  bursting  of  the  sea-wall,  are  described  with  Mr.  Fenn's 
wonted  skill  in  the  management  of  mystery. 

BROWNSMITH'S  BOY 

By    GEORGE    MANVILLE    FENN.     With  6  page   Illustrations. 

Crown  8vo,  $1.00. 

The  career  of  "  Brownsmith's  Boy  "  embraces  the  home  adventures  of 
an  orphan,  who,  having  formed  the  acquaintance  of  an  eccentric  old  gar- 
dener, accepts  his  offer  of  a  home  and  finds  that  there  is  plenty  of  romance 
in  a  garden,  and  much  excitement  even  in  a  journey  now  and  then  to 
town.  In  a  half-savage  lad  he  finds  a  friend  who  shows  his  love  and 
fid' lity  principally  by  pretending  to  bean  enemy.  In  "Brovrnsmith's 
Boy  "  there  is  abundance  of  excitement  and  trouble  within  four  walls. 

YUSSUF  THE  GUIDE 

Being  the  Strange  Stoiy  of  Travels  in  Asia  Minor.  By  GEORGE 
MANVILLE  FENN.  With  8  full-page  Illustrations  by  JOHN 
SCHONBERG.  Crown  8vo,  SI. 00. 

Deals  with  the  stirring  incidents  in  the  career  of  a  lad  who  has  been 
almost  given  over  by  the  doctors,  but  who  rapidly  recovers  health  and 
strength  in  a  journey  through  Asia  Minor.  The  adventures  are  many, 
and  culminate  in  the  travelers  being  snowed  up  for  the  winter  in  the 
mountains,  from  which  they  escape  while  their  captors  are  waiting  for 
the  ransom  that  does  not  come. 

THE  GOLDEN  MAGNET 

A  Tale  of  the  Land  of  the  Incas.   By  GEORGE  MANVILLE  FENN. 

With  12  full-page  Pictures  by  GORDON  BROWNE.     Crown 

8vo,  olivine  edges.  $1.50. 

The  tale  of  a  romantic  lad,  who  leaves  home  to  seek  his  fortune  in 
South  America  by  endeavoring  to  discover  some  of  that  treasure  which 
legends  declare  was  ages  ago  hidden  by  the  Peruvian  rulers  and  priests, 
to  preserve  it  from  the  Spanish  invaders.  He  is  accompanied  by  a  faith- 
ful companion,  who  does  true  service,  and  shows  the  greatest  courage 
during  the  strange  and  exciting  adventures  which  befall  them. 


BOOKS  FOR  YOUNQ  PEOPLE  81 


BY  CEORCE  MANVILLE  FENN 

"  Mr  Manville  Fenn  may  be  regarded  as  the  successor  In  boyhood's  affec- 
tions of  Captain  Mayne  Reid.1' — Academy. 


NAT  THE  NATURALIST 

A    Boy's  Adventures    in    the    Eastern    Seas.      By  GEORGE 
MANVILLE  FENN.     Illustrated  by  8  full-page  Pictures  by 
GEORGE  BROWNE.     Crown  8vo,  olivine  edges,  $1.50. 
Nat  and  his  uncle  Dick  go  on  a  voyage  to  the  remoter  islands  of  the 
Eastern  seas,  and  their  adventures  there  are  told  in  a  truthful  and  vastly 
interesting  fashion.     The  descriptions  of  Mr   Ebony,  their  black  com- 
rade, and  of  the  scenes  of  savage  life,  are  full  of  genuine  humor. 

QUICKSILVER 

Or,  A  Boy  with  no  Skid  to  his  Wheel.  By  GEORGE  MANVILLE 
FENN.  With  10  full-page  Illustrations  by  FRANK  DADD. 
Crown  8vo,  $1.25. 

Dr.  Grayson  has  a  theory  that  any  boy,  if  rightly  trained,  can  be  made 
into  a  gentleman  and  a  great  man  ;  and  in  oider  to  confute  a  friendly 
objector  decides  to  select  from  the  workhouse  a  boy  to  experiment  with. 
He  chooses  a  boy  with  a  bad  reputation  but  with  excellent  instincts,  and 
adopts  him,  the  story  narrating  the  adventures  of  the  mercurial  lad  who 
thus  finds  himself  suddenly  lifted  several  degrees  in  the  social  srale. 
The  idea  is  novel  and  handled  with  Mr.  Fenn's  accustomed  cleverness. 

DEVON  BOYS 

A  Tale  of  the  North   Shore.     By  GEORGE  MANVILLE  FENN. 

With    12    full-page    Illustrations  by  GORDON  BROWNE. 

Crown  8vo,  olivine  edges,  $1. 50. 

The  adventures  of  Sep  Duncan  and  his  school  friends  take  place  in  the 
early  part  of  the  Georgian  era,  during  the  wars  between  England  and 
France.  The  scene  is  laid  on  the  picturesque  rocky  coast  of  North 
Devon.  Fishermen,  smugglers,  naval  officers,  and  a  stern  old  country 
surgeon  play  their  parts  in  the  story,  which  is  one  of  honest  adventure, 
with  the  mastering  of  difficulties  in  a  wholesome  manly  way,  mingled 
with  sufficient  excitement  to  satisfy  the  most  exacting  reader. 

MOTHER  CAREY'S  CHICKEN 

Her  Voyage  to  the  Unknown  Isle.  By  GEORGE  MANVILLE  FENN. 
With  8  full-page  Illustrations.  "  Crown  8vo,  81.00. 

A  stirring  story  of  adventure  in  the  Eastern  seas,  where  a  lad  shares 
the  perils  of  his  father,  the  captain  of  the  merchant  ship  The  Petrel. 

"  Jules  Verne  himself  never  constructed  a  more  marvelous  tale.  It 
contains  the  strongly  marked  features  that  are  always  conspicuous  in 
Mr.  Fenn's  stories — a  racy  humor,  the  manly  vigor  of  his  sentiment,  and 
wholesome  moral  lessons." — Christian  Leader. 


22  BOOKS  FOR  YOUXQ  PEOPLE 


BY  GEORGE  MANVILLE  FENN 

"No  one  can  find  his  way  to  the  hearts  of  lads  more  readily  than  Mr.  Fenn." 

— NoUingTiam  Guardian. 


BUNYIP  LAND 

The  Story  of  a  Wild  Journey  in  New  Guinea.  By  GEOKGE 
MANVILLE  FENN.  Wi  th  6  f  ull  -  page  Illustrations  by  GORDON 
BROWNE.  Crown  8vo,  $1.25. 

"  Bunyip  Land  "  is  the  story  of  an  eminent  botanist,  who  ventures  into 
the  interior  of  New  Guinea  in  his  search  for  new  plants.  Years  pass 
a  A  ay,  and  he  does  not  return;  and  though  supposed  to  be  dead,  his 
young  wife  and  son  refuse  to  believe  it ;  and  as  soon  as  he  is  old  enough 
young  Joe  goes  in  search  of  his  father,  accompanied  by  Jimmy,  a  native 
black.  Their  adventures  are  many  and  exciting,  but  after  numerous 
perils  they  discover  the  lost  one,  a  prisoner  among  the  blacks,  and  bring 
him  home  in  triumph. 

IN  THE  KING'S  NAME 

Or,  The  Cruise  of  the  Kestrel.  By  GEOKGE  MANVILLE  FENN. 
Illustrated  by  12  full-page  Pictures  by  GORDON  BROWNE. 
Crown  8vo,  olivine  edges,  $1.50. 

"In  the  King's  Name  "  is  a  spirited  story  of  the  Jacobite  times,  con- 
cerning the  adventures  of  Hilary  Leigh,  a  young  naval  officer  in  the  pre- 
ventive service  off  the  coast  of  Sussex,  on  board  the  Kestrel.  Leigh  is 
taken  prisoner  by  the  adherents  of  the  Pretender,  amongst  whom  is  an 
early  friend  and  patron  who  desires  to  spare  the  lad's  life,  but  will  not 
release  him.  The  narrative  is  full  of  exciting  and  often  humorous 
incident. 

MENHARDOC 

A  Story  of  Cornish  Nets  and  Mines.  By  GEORGE  MANVILLE 
FENN.  With  6  full-page  Illustrations  by  C.  J.  STANILAND, 
E.I.  Crown  8vo,  $1.00. 

The  scene  of  this  story  is  laid  among  the  granite  piles  and  tors  of  Corn- 
wall. Adventures  are  pretty  plentiful,  but  the  story  has  for  its  strong 
base  the  development  of  character  of  the  three  boys.  The  sketches  of 
Cornish  life  and  local  coloring  are  based  upon  experience  in  the  bay, 
whose  fishing  village  is  called  here  Menhardoc.  This  is  a  thoroughly 
English  story  of  phases  of  life  but  little  touched  upon  in  boy's  literature 
up  to  the  present  time. 

PATIENCE  WINS 

Or,  War  in  the  Works.  By  GEORGE  MANVILLE  FENN.  With 
6  full-page  Illustrations.  Crown  8vo,  $1.00. 

A  graphic  narrative  of  factory  life  in  the  Black  Country.  The  hero  and 
his  three  uncles  set  up  *'  a  works,"  but  find  that  the  workmen  are  deter- 
mined to  have  no  new-fangled  machinery.  After  a  series  of  narrow 
escapes  and  stirring  encounters,  the  workmen  by  degrees  find  that  no 
malice  is  borne  against  them,  and  eventually  a  great  business  is  built  up, 
and  its  foundation  laid  on  the  good  will  of  the  men. 


BOOKS  FOR  YOUXG  PEOPLE  23 


BY  DR,  GORDON  STABLES 


A  NAVAL  CADET 

A  Story  of  Adventure  by  Sea.  By  GORDON  STABLES,  M.D., 
C.M.  Illustrated,  crown  8vo,  §1.25. 

FOR  LIFE  AND  LIBERTY 

A  Story  of  Battle  by  Land  and  Sea.  By  GORDON  STABLES, 
M.D.,  C.M.  With  8  full-page  Illustrations  by  SIDNEY 
PAGET.  12mo.  §1.50. 

The  fctory  of  an  English  hoy  who  runs  from  home  and  joins  the  south- 
ern army  in  the  late  Civil  War.  He  is  accompanied  by  his  chum,  who 
enters  the  navy,  and  their  various  adventures  in  the  great  conflict  are  set 
forth  with  great  vigor  and  are  unfailing  in  interest. 

TO  GREENLAND  AND  THE  POLE 

A  Story  of  Adventure  in  the  Arctic  Regions.  By  GORDON 
STABLES,  M.D.,  C.M.  With  8  full-page  Illustrations  by 
G.  C.  HINDLEY,  and  a  Map.  Crown  8vo,  olivine  edges, 
$1.50. 

The  unfailing  fascination  of  Arctic  venturing  is  presented  in  this  story 
with  new  vividness.  The  author  is  himself  an  old  Arctic  voyager,  and 
he  deals  with  deer-hunting  in  Norway,  sealing  in  the  Arctic  Seas,  bear- 
stalking  on  the  ice-floes,  the  hardships  of  a  journey  across  Greenland, 
and  a  successful  voyage  to  the  back  of  the  North  Pole. 

WESTWARD  WITH  COLUMBUS 

By  GORDON  STABLES,  M.D.,  C.M.     With  8  full-page  Illustra- 
tions by  ALFRED  PEARSE.   Crown  8vo,  olivine  edges,  §1.50. 
The  hero  of  this  story  is  Columbus  himself.    His  career  is  traced  from 
boyhood  onward  through  the  many  hazardous  enterprises  in  which  he 
was  at  various  times  engaged.     The  narrative  deals  chiefly,  however, 
with  the  great  naval  venture  which  Colnmbus  conducted  across  the  At- 
lantic, and  which  resulted  in  the  discovery  of  the  American  continent. 

TWIXT  SCHOOL  AND  COLLEGE 

A  Tale  of  Self-reliance.  By  GORDON  STABLES,  M.D.,  C.M. 
With  8  full-page  Illustrations  by  W.  PARKINSON.  Crown 
8vo,  olivine  edges,  §1.50. 

The  hero  is  presented  by  his  father  with  an  outlying  cottage  and 
garden  on  the  farm,  and  the  gift  is  turned  to  pleasant  account  as  a  place 
of  residence  for  a  whole  menagerie  of  pets  dear  to  the  heart  of  most 
healthy-minded  boys. 


BOOKS  FOR  YOUXQ  PEOPLE 


STORIES  OF  ADVENTURE  BY  SEA  AND  LAND 


mJLFRIC  THE  WEAPON  THANE 

The  Story  of  the  Danish  Conquest  of  East  Anglia.  By  CHARLES 
W.  WHISTLER.  With  6  illustrations  by  W.  H.  MAUGETSON. 
Crown  8vo,  $1  25. 

A  tale  In  which  is  set  forth :— How  Wulfric  saved  the  Danish  warrior's  life ; 
how  he  fought  in  the  Viking  ship ;  how  he  was  accused  falsely ;  how  he  joined 
King  Badmund,  as  his  weapon-tbane ;  how  he  fought  for  the  king;  and  how 
he  won  the  lady  Osritha  and  brought  her  to  his  home. 

TOMMY  THE  ADVENTUROUS 

The  Story  of  a  Brother  and  Sister.  By  S.  E.  CAHTWIUGHT.  With 
3  Illustrations.  Crown  8vo,  $1.00. 

THORNDYKE  MANOR 

A  Tale  of  Jacobite  Times.  By  MARY  C.  ROWSELL.  With  6  full- 
page  Illustrations  by  L.  LESLIE  BHOOKE.  Crown  8vo,  $1.25. 

Tborndyke  Manor  is  an  old  house  near  the  mouth  of  the  Thames  which  is 
convenient,  on  account  of  i'a  secret  vaults  and  situation,  as  theba^is  of  opera- 
tion in  a  Jacobite  conspiracy.  Its  owner  finds  himself  suddenly  involved  in 
the  closest  meshes  of  the  plot.  He  is  conveyed  to  the  Tower,  but  his  inno- 
cence is  triumphantly  proved  by  his  sister. 

TRAITOR  OR  PATRIOT 

A  Tale  of  the  Rye-House  Plot.  By  MARY  C.  ROWSELL.  With  6 
full-page  Pictures  Crown  8vo,  $1.25. 

"  A  romantic  love  episode,  whose  true  characters  are  life-like  beings,  not 
dry  sticks,  as  in  many  historical  tales.''—  Graphic. 

HAL  HUNGERFORD 

Or,  The  Strange  Adventures  of  a  Boy  Emigrant.  By  J.  R.  HUTCH- 
INSON.  With  4  full-page  Illustrations  by  STANLEY  BERKELEY. 
Crown  8vo,  $1.00. 

"There  is  no  question  whatever  as  to  the  spirited  manner  In  which  the  story 
is  told ;  the  death  of  the  mate  of  the  smuggler  by  the  teeth  of  the  dog  is  espe- 
cially effective."— London  Spectator. 

SIR  WALTER'S  WARD 
A  Tale  of  the  Crusades.     By  WILLIAM  EVERARD.     Illustrated  by 

WALTER  PAGET.    Crown  8vo,  $1.25. 

"  A  highly  fascinating  work,  dealing  with  a  period  which  is  always  sugges- 
tive of  romance  and  deeds  of  daring."-  Schoolmaster. 

COUSIN  GEOFFREY  AND  I 

By  CAROLINE  AUSTIN.  With  6  full-page  Illustrations  by  W. 
PARKINSON.  Crown  8vo,  $1.25. 

The  only  daughter  of  a  country  gentleman  finds  herself  unprovided  for  at 
her  father's  death,  and  for  some  time  lives  as  a  dependent.  She  finally  makes 
a  brave  attempt  to  earn  her  own  livelihood,  and  she  succeeds  in  doing  this. 

HUGH  HERBERT'S  INHERITANCE 

By  CAROLINE  AUSTIN.  With  6  full  page  Illustrations  by  C.  T. 
GARLAND.  Crown  8vo,  $1.25. 

"A  story  that  teaches  patience  as  well  as  courage  in  fighting  the  battles  of 
life."— Daily  Chronicle. 


BOOKS  FOR  TOUXQ  PEOPLE  25 

STORIES  OF  ADVENTURE  BY  SEA  AND  LAND 


SOU'WESTER  AND  SWORD 

By  HUGH  ST.  LEGEK.  With  6  full-page  Illustrations  by  HAL 
HURST.  Grown  8vo,  $1.50. 

"  As  racy  a  tale  of  life  at  sea  and  war  adventure  as  we  have  met  with 
for  some  time." — London  Athtnceum. 

WITH  THE  SEA  KINGS 

A  Story  of  the  Days  of  Lord  Nelson.     By  F.  H.  WINDER. 

With  6  full-page  Illustrations  by  W.  S.  STACEY.     Crown 

8vo,  §1.50. 

An  English  lad  thought  to  become  a  Lord  High  Admiral  like  his  hero. 
Nelson,  so  he  ran  away  from  home  and  joined  a  privateer.  After  taking 
part  in  the  capture  of  a  French  frigate,  he  was  captured  by  Corsairs  and 
sold  into  slavery.  He  escaped,  and  his  subsequent  bravery  in  a  sea  fight 
brought  him  an  interview  with  Nelson,  and  promotion. 

THE  CAPTURED  CRUISER 

Or,  Two  Years  from  Land.    By  C.  J.  HYNE.    With  6  full-page 

Illustrations  by  F.  BRANGWYN.  Crown  8vo,  SI. 25. 
This  realistic  story  of  modern  naval  warfare  deals  with  the  capture, 
during  the  recent  war  between  Chili  and  Peru,  of  an  armed  cruiser.  The 
heroes  and  their  companions  break  from  prison  in  the  harbor  of  Valpa 
raiso,  board  this  warship  in  the  night,  overpower  the  watch,  escape  to 
sea,  and,  after  marvelous  adventures,  lose  the  cruiser  near  Cape  Horn. 

THE  LOSS  OF  JOHN  HUMBLE 

What  Led  to  It,  and  what  Came  of  It.  By  G.  NORWAY.  With 
8  full-page  Illustrations  by  JOHN  SCHONBERG.  Crown  8vo, 
olivine  edges,  $1.50. 

John  Humble,  an  orphan,  is  sent  to  sea  with  his  uncle,  the  captain  of 
the  Erl  King,  but  in  the  course  of  certain  adventures  is  left  behind  at 
Portsmouth.  He  escapes  to  a  Norwegian  vessel,  which  is  driven  from 
her  course  and  wrecked.  The  survivors  experience  the  miseries  of  a 
long  sojourn  in  the  Arctic  circle,  but  ultimately  they  succeed  in  making 
their  way  home  again. 

HUSSEIN  THE  HOSTAGE 

Or,  A  Boy's  Adventures  in  Persia.  By  G.  NORWAY.  With 
8  full-page  Illustrations  by  JOHN  SCHONBEBG.  Crown  8vo, 
olivine  edges,  $1.50. 

A  narrative  of  the  adventures  of  the  young  Prince  Hussein  and  his 
faithful  follower,  Askar,  in  their  endeavor  to  fiee  their  oppressed  tribe 
from  the  Persian  yoke. 

A  PRISONER  OF  WAR 

A  Story  of  the  Time  of  Napoleon  Bonaparte.    By  G.  NORWAY. 

With    6    full-page    Illustrations    by    ROBERT    BARNES, 

A.B.W.S.     Crown  8vo,  S1.25. 

"More  hairbreadth  escapes  from  death  by  starvation,  by  ice,  by  fight- 
ing, etc.,  were  never  before  surmounted." — The  Ouardian. 


26  BOOKS  FOR  YOUNG  PEOPLE 


STORIES  OF  ADVENTURE  BY  SEA  AND  LAND. 


A  STOUT  ENGLISH  BOWMAN 

Being  a  Story  of  Chivalry  in  the  Days  of  Henry  III.     By 
EDGAR  PICKERING.     With  6  Illustrations.     Price,  $1.25. 

IN  PRESS-GANG  DAYS 

By  EDGAR  PICKERING.     With  6  full-page  Illustrations  by  W. 
S.  STACEY.     Crown  8vo,  $1.25. 

"  It  is  of  Marryat  we  think  as  we  read  this  delightful  story ;  for  it  is 
not  only  a  story  of  adventure  with  incidents  well  conceived  and  ar- 
ranged, but  the  characters  are  interesting." — London  Academy. 

AN  OLD-TIME  YARN 

Wherein  is  set  forth  Divers  Desperate  Mischances  which 
Befell  Anthony  Ingram  and  his  shipmates  in  the  West 
Indies  and  Mexico  with  Hawkins  and  Drake.  By  EDGAR 
PICKERING.  Illustrated  with  6  full-page  Pictures  drawn 
by  ALFRED  PEARSE.  Crown  8vo,  $1.25. 
"Excellent  is  the  description  of  Mexico  and  of  the  dungeons  of  the 

Inquisition,  while  Don  Diego  Polo  is  a  delightful  mixture  of  bravery 

and  humor,  and  his  rescue  of  the  unfortunate  prisoners  is  told  with 

great  spirit." — London  Guardian. 

SILAS  VERNEY 

A  Tale  of  the  Time  of  Charles  II.     By  EDGAR  PICKERING. 

With  6  full-page  Illustrations  by  ALFRED  PEARSE.     Crown 

8vo,  $1.25. 

"Mr.  P.ckering  reels  off  the  narrative  with  spirit,  rather  reminding 
us  of  Mr.  Stevenson  in  such  books  as  'Kidnapped.'  " — London  Times. 


AN  OCEAN  OUTLAW 

A  Story  of  Adventure  in  the  good  ship  Margaret.  By  HUGH 
ST.  LEGER.  With  6  page  illustrations  by  WM.  RAINEY, 
E.I.  Crown  8vo,  $1.25. 

This  is  a  breezy  sea-yarn  in  which  the  reader  is  made  acquainted  with 
Jimmy  Ducks,  cabin-boy  aboard  the  good  ship  Margaret.  For  little 
Jimmy  is  a  tip-top  sailor-man  in  the  making  merry  in  fair  weather,  handy 
in  a  gale,  and  a  hero  at  cutlass  work,  and  all  his  cleverness  was  needed 
wh«>n  he  and  his  messmates  came  to  tackle  the  Ocean  Outlaw  and  his 
castaway  crew. 


BOOKS  FOR  YOUXO  PEOPLE  ST 


STORIES  OF  ADVENTURE  BY  SEA  AND  LAND 


GOLD,  GOLD,  IN  CARIBOO 

A  Story  of  Adventure  in  British  Columbia.  By  OLIVE 
PHILLIPPS-WOLLEY.  With  6  full-page  Illustrations  by 
G.  C.  HINDLEY.  Crown  8vo,  $1.25. 

Ned  Corbett  and  his  companion,  Steve  Chance,  set  out  with  a  pack- 
train  in  order  to  obtain  gold  on  the  upper  reaches  of  the  Frazer  river. 
Many  difficulties  lie  in  their  path,  but  after  innumerable  adventures,  and 
a  life-and-death  struggle  with  the  Arctic  weather  of  that  wild  region, 
they  find  the  secret  gold  mines  for  which  they  have  searched. 

HIS  FIRST  KANGAROO 

An  Australian  Story  for  Boys.  By  AKTHUR  FERRES.  With  6 
Illustrations  by  P.  B.  S.  SPENER.  Crown  8vo,  $1.25. 

A  CHAMPION  OF  THE  FAITH 

A  Tale  of  Prince  Hal  and  the  Lollards.     By  J.  M.  CALLWELL. 

With  6  full -page   Illustrations  by  HERBERT  J.  DRAPER. 

Crown  8vo,  $1.50. 

This  story  deals  with  the  merry  escapades  of  Prince  Hal  and  his  favor- 
ite, Sir  John  Oldcastle.  Then  the  narrative  deepens  when  the  Prince 
ascends  the  throne  as  Henry  V.,  while  his  old  comrade  becomes  a  Lollard 
and  a  champion  of  the  new  faith.  As  such,  Sir  John  Oldcastle  endures 
many  hardships,  but  finally  is  captured  by  treachery  and  burnt  at  the 
stake. 

THE  WIGWAM  AND  THE  WAR-PATH 

Stories  of  the  Bed  Indians.     By  ASCOTT  K.  HOPE.     Illustrated 

by  GORDON  BROWNE.     Crown  8vo,  $1.00. 

"  Mr.  Hope's  '  Wigwam  and  War-path'  is  notably  good ;  it  gives  a  very 
vivid  picture  of  life  among  the  Indians." — Spectator. 

THE  SEVEN  WISE  SCHOLARS 

By  ASCOTT  K.  HOPE.  Illustrated  by  GORDON  BROWNE.  Square 
8vo,  $1.50. 

YOUNG  TRAVELLERS'  TALES 

By  ASCOTT  R.  HOPE.     With  6  full-page  Illustrations  by  H.  J. 

DRAPER.     Crown  8vo,  $1.25. 

"Possess  a  high  value  for  instruction  as  well  as  for  entertainment. 
His  quiet,  level  humor  bubbles  up  on  every  page." — Daily  Chronicle. 

ROBINSON  CRUSOE 

New  Edition.  With  100  Illustrations  by  GORDON  BROWNE. 
Crown  8vo,  $1.00. 

GULLIVER'S  TRAVELS 

New  Edition.  With  100  Illustrations  by  GORDON  BROWNE. 
Crown  8vo,  $1.00. 


BOOKS  FOR  YOUXO  PEOPLE 


SOME  STORIES  OF  ADVENTURE 


"  HALLOWE'EN  »  AHOY ! 
Or,    Lost    on   the  Crozet  Is- 
lands. By  HUGH  ST.  LEGEK. 
With  6  page  Illustrations. 
Crown  8vo,  $1.50. 

An.  exciting  story  of  shipwreck 
and  adventure  in  the  South  Atlan- 
tic. The  Hiilnwe'en  is  found  a 
derelict  with  only  a  girl  on  board, 
and  after  many  experiences  it  is 
sailed  to  England. 

REEFER  AND  RIFLEMAN 
A  Tale  of  the  Two  Services. 
By  J.  PERCY  GROVES.   Illus- 
trated.     Crown  8vo,  $1.25. 

THE  SEARCH   FOR  THE 

TALISMAN 
A  Tale    of    Labrador.       By 

HENRY  FRITH.    Illustrated. 

Crown  8vo,  $1.25. 

FAMOUS  DISCOVERIES  BY 

SEA  AND  LAND 
Illustrated.  Crown  8  vo,$  1.00. 

STORIES  OF  THE  SEA  IN 
FORMER  DAYS 

Narratives  of  Wreck  and  Bes- 
cue.  Illustrated.  Crown 
8vo,  $1.00. 


FROM    THE    CLYDE    TO 

THE  JORDAN 
By  HUGH  CALLAN.     With  30 

Illustrations   and    a    Map. 

Crown  8vo,  $1.50. 

An  interesting  story  of  a  bicycle 
trip  through  Europe  and  Palestine. 

UNDER  THE  BLACK 

EAGLE 

By  ANDREW  HILLIARD.    Illus- 
trated.    Crown  8vx>,  $1.00. 
The  adventures  of  a  young  Eng- 
lish  lad  who    was    imprisoned  in 
Russia  and  sent   to  Siberia,  from 
which  he  escaped  across  Asia. 

JACK  O'LANTHORN 
A   Tale   of    Adventure.      By 
HENRY  FRITH.    Illustrated. 
Crown  8vo,  $1.00. 

THE  WAR  OF  THE  AXE 

Or,  Adventures  in  South  Af- 
rica. By  J.  PERCY  GROVES. 
Illustrated.  Crown  8vo, 
$1.00. 

TALES  OF  CAPTIVITY 

AND  EXILE 

By  W.  B.  FORTESCUE.  Illus- 
trated. Crown  8vo,  $1.00. 


HISTORICAL  STORIES 


A  THANE  OF  WESSEX 

Being  a  Story  of  the  Great 
Viking  Raids  into  Somerset. 
By  CHARLES  W.  WHISTLER. 
Illustrated.  Crown  8vo, 
$1.25. 

BROTHERS  IN  ARMS 

A  Story  of  the  Crusades. 
By  F.  BAYFORD  HARRISON. 
Illustrated.  Crown  8vo, 
$1.00. 


TWO  GALLANT   REBELS 

A  Story  of  the  Great  Straggle 

of  La  Vendee.     By  EDGAR 

PICKERING.          Illustrated. 

Crown  8vo,  $1.25. 

STORIES  OF  OLD  RENOWN 
Tales  of  Knights  and  Heroes. 
By  ASCOTT  K.  HOPE.     Illus- 
trated.    Crown  8vo,  $1.25, 

STIRRING  EVENTS  OF 
HISTORY 

Illustrated.  Crown  8vo,  $1.00. 


BOOKS  FOR   YOITXG  PEOPLE  29 

ADVENTURES  IN  TOYLAND 

By  EDITH  KING  HALL.  With  8  Colored  Plates  and  72  other 
Illustrations  by  ALICE  B.  WOODWARD.  Square  8vo,  82.00. 

The  story  of  what  a  little  girl  heard  and  saw  in  a  toy  shop. 

TO  TELL  THE  KING  THE  SKY  IS  FALLING 

By  SHEILA  E.  BBAINE.  With  85  Illustrations  by  ALICE  B. 
WOODWARD.  Square  crown  8vo,  $1.75. 

A  most  original  fairy  tale,  in  which  Henny  Penny,  Ducky  Daddies, 
and  other  old  friends  are  met. 

THE  WHISPERING  WINDS 

And  the  Tales  that  they  Told.  By  MARY  H.  DEBENHAM. 
With  25  Illustrations  by  PAUL  HARDY.  Crown  8vo,  $1 .00. 

"  We  wish  the  winds  would  tell  us  stories  like  these." 

—  London  Academy. 

THINGS  WILL  TAKE  A  TURN 

By  BEATRICE  HARRADEN,  author  of  ' '  Ships  that  Pass  in  the 
Night."  Illustrated.  12mo,  $1.00. 

It  is  the  story  of  a  snnny-hearted  child,  Rosebud,  who  assists  her 
grandfather  in  his  dusty,  second-hand  bookshop. 

NAUGHTY  MISS  BUNNY 

Her  Tricks  and  Troubles.     By  CLARA  MULHOLLAND.     Illus- 
trated.    Crown  8vo,  75  cents. 
"This  naughty  child  is  positively  delightful," — Land  and  Water. 

UNLUCKY 

A  Fragment  of  a  Girl's  Life.     By  CAROLINE  AUSTIN.     Illus- 
trated.    Crown  8vo,  75  cents. 
A  touching  story  of  an  unlucky  girl  at  odds  with  her  stepmother. 

LAUGH  AND  LEARN 

The  Easiest  Book  of  Nursery  Lessons  and  Nursery  Games. 
By  JENNETT  HUMPHREYS.  Charmingly  Illustrated.  Square 
8vo,  $1.25. 

"One  of  the  best  books  of  the  kind  imaginable,  full  of  practical  teach- 
ing in  word  and  picture,  and  helping  the  little  ones  pleasantly  along  a 
right  royal  road  to  learning." — Graphic. 


30 


BOOKS  FOR  YOUNG  1'EOl'LE 


SOME  BOOKS  FOR  GIRLS 


Nell's  School  Days.  A  Story 
of  Town  and  Country.  By 
H.  P.  GETHEN.  With  4  Il- 
lustrations. Price,  $1.00. 

Violet  Vereker's  Vanity.  By 

ANNIE  E.  ARMSTBONO.  With 
6  Illustrations  by  G.  D. 
HAMMOND.  Crown  8vo, 
01.25. 

The  story  of  a  girl  with  one 
weakness,  which  she  finally  over- 
came. 

Three  Bright  Girls.   A  Story 
of  Chance  and  Mischance. 
By  ANNIE   B.   ARMSTRONG. 
With  6  full-page  Illustra- 
tions   by    W7.    PARKINSON. 
Crown  8vo,  $1.25. 
"Among  many  good  stories  for 
girls  this  is  undoubtedly  one   of 
the  very  best." — Ttachers1  Aid. 

A  Very  Odd  Girl.  Life  at  the 
Gabled  Farm.  By  ANNIE 
E.  ARMSTRONG.  With  6 
full-page  Illustrations  by 
S.  T.  DADD.  Crown 
$1.25. 

"  We  can  heartily  recommend 
the  book,  for  it  is  not,  only  bright 
and  interesting,  but  also  pure  and 
heaHhy  in  tone  and  teachirg." — 
The  Lady. 

White  Lilac :  Or,  The  Queen 
of  the  May.  By  AMY  WAL- 
TON. Illustrated.  Crown 
8vo,  $1.00. 

By  MARGARET  PARKER 
For  the  Sake  of  a  Friend. 

A  Story  of  School  Life.  Il- 
lustrated. Crown  8vo,  $1. 00. 

A  bright  story  of  two  good  girl 
fr  ends. 


A  Daughter  of  Erin.  By 
VIOLET  G.  FINNY.  With  4 
Illustrations.  Price,  $1.00. 

Under  False  Colors.  A  Story 

from  Two  Girls'  Lives.  By 
SARAH  DOUDNEY.  With  6 
full-page  Illustrations  by 
G.  G.  KILBURNE.  Crown 
8vo,  $1.25. 

A  story  which  has  in  it  so  strong 
a  dramatic  element  that  it  will  at- 
tract readers  of  all  ages  and  of 
either  sex.  The  incidents  of  the 
plot,  arising  from  the  thoughtless 
indulgence  of  a  deceptive  freak, 
are  exceedingly  natural,  and  the 
keen  interest  of  the  narrative  is 
sustained  from  beginning  to  end. 

Miss    Willowburn's    Offer. 

By  SARAH  DOUDNEY.  Illus- 
trated. Crown  8vo,  $1.00. 

"  Sarah  Doudney  has  no  superior 
as  a  writer  of  high-toned  stories ; 
pure  in  style,  original  in  concep- 
tion, and  with  skilfully  wrought- 
out  plots." — Chrvtian  Leader. 

The  Secret  of  the  Old  House. 

A  Story  for  Children.  By 
EVELYN  EVERETT  GREEN. 
With  4  full -page  Illustra- 
tions by  L.  LESLIE  BROOKE. 
Crown  8vo,  $1.00. 
"Tim,  the  little  Jacobite,  is  a 
charming  creation." — Academy. 

By  M.  CORBET-SEYMOUR 
A    Girl's    Kingdom.     Illus- 
trated.    Crown  8vo,  $1. 00. 
Olive  and  her  story  will  receive 
welcome  from  all  girls. 

Dulcie  King:  A  Story  for 
Girls.  Illustrated.  Crown 
8vo,  $1.00. 

"  An  extremely  graceful,  well- 
told  tale." 


BOOKS  FOR  YOUNG  PKOPLE 


SOME  BOOKS  FOR  GIRLS 


A  GIRL'S  LOYALTY 

By  FRANCES  ARMSTRONG.  With  8  Illustrations  by  JOHN  H. 
BACON.  Crown  8vo,  olivine  edges,  $1.50. 

Helen  Grant  received  from  her  grandfather  on  his  death-bed  a  secret 
message.  This  influenced  her  whole  life,  but  she  was  loyal  to  her  trust 
and  to  her  friends. 

A  FAIR  CLAIMANT 

Being  a  Story  for  Girls.     By  FRANCES  ARMSTRONG.    With  8 
full-page  Illustrations  by  GERTRUDE  D.  HAMMOND.   Crown 
8vo,  olivine  edges,  $1.50. 
An  exciting  story  of  a  young  girl,  the  rightful  heir  to  a  large  fortune, 

who  has  been  kept  out  of  it,  but  who  most  honorably  regains  it,  after 

much  trial  and  difficulty. 

THE  CLEVER  MISS  FOLLETT 

By  J.  K.  H.  DENNY.     With  12  full-page  Illustrations  by  GER- 
TRUDE D.  HAMMOND.    Crown  8vo,  olivine  edges,  $1.50. 
The  story  of  a  great  fortune  and  its  attendant  train  of  misfortunes. 

THE  HEIRESS  OF  COURTLEROY 

By  ANNE  BEALE.  With  8  page  Illustrations  by  T.  C.  H. 
CASTLE.  Crown  8vo,  cloth  elegant,  olivine  edges,  $1.50. 

"  Miss  Anne  Beale  relates  how  the  young  '  Heiress  of  Courtleroy  '  had 
such  good  influence  over  her  uncle  as  to  win  him  from  his  intensely  felfish 
ways  in  regard  to  his  tenants  and  others." — London  Guardian. 

A  TRUE  CORNISH  MAID 

By  G.  NORWAY.     With  6  full-page  Illustrations  by  J.  FINNE- 

MORE.     Crown  8vo,  $1.25. 

A  story  of  the  Cornish  coast  when  the  press-gang  brought  terror  into 
all  its  seaports,  and  smuggling  was  an  everyday  practice.  The  heroine 
of  the  tale  is  sister  to  a  young  fellow  who  gets  into  trouble  in  landing  a 
contraband  cargo  and  shooting  the  officer  in  charge  of  the  press-gang. 

GIRL  NEIGHBORS 

Or,  The  Old  Fashion  and  the  New.  By  SARAH  TYTLER.  With 
8  full-page  Illustrations  by  C.  T.  GARLAND.  Crown  8vo, 
$1.00. 

"  '  Girl  Neighbors  '  is  a  pleasant  comedy,  not  FO  much  of  errors  as  of 
prejudices  got  rid  of,  very  healthy,  very  agreeable,  and  very  well  writ- 
ten."— London  Spectator. 


32 


BOOKS  FOR   I'OUXG  PEOPLE 


SOME  BOOKS  FOR  GIRLS 


By  ALICE  CORKRAN 
Down    the     Snow     Stairs. 

Or,    From    Good-night    to 
Good-morning.      By  ALICE 
CORKRAN.     With  60  charac- 
ter Illustrations  by  GORDON 
BROWNE.       Square    crown 
8vo,  olivine  edges,  $1.25. 
"A  gem  of  the  first  water,  bear- 
ing upon  every  one  of  its  pages  the 
signet  mark  of  getiius.    .    .    .    All 
is   told   with  such  simplicity  and 
perf  ct  naturalness  that  the  dream 
appears  to  be  a  solid  reality.     It  is 
indeed  a  Little  Pilgrim's  Progress. " 
—  Christian  Leader. 

Margery  Merton's  Girlhood. 

By  ALICE  CORKBAN.  With 
6  full-page  Illustrations  by 
GORDON  BROWNE.  Crown 
8vo,  $1.25. 

The  experience  of  an  orphan 
girl  who  in  infancy  is  left  by  her 
father,  an  officer  in  Ind  a,  to  the 
care  of  an  elderly  aunt  residing 
near  Paris. 

Meg's    Friend.       By    ALICE 
CORKRAN.   With  6  full-page 
Illustrations     by     ROBERT 
FOWLER.    Crown  8vo,  $1.25. 
Meg  has  been  brought  up  by  a 
woman  who  abuses  the  trust.     She 
is  removed  to  a  lady's  school  and 
is  ultimately  taken  into  the  house 
of    a  mysterious   benefactor   who 
proves  to  be  her  grandfather.     Af- 
ter a  long  separation  she  once  more 
meets  the  friend  of  her  childhood. 

Adventures  of  Mrs.  Wish- 
ing-to=Be.  ByALicECoRK- 
RAN.       With    3    full- page 
Pictures  in  colors.      Crown 
8vo,  75  cents. 
A  book  of;  charming  fairy  tales 
in    which   Cinderella,    Little    Bo- 
Peep,    and  other  old  friends  ap- 
pear. 


Joan's    Adventures    at   the 

North  Pole  and  Elsewhere. 
By  ALICE  CORKRAN.     Illus- 
trated.       Crown     8vo,    75 
cents. 
A  beautiful  dream-land  story. 

By  ROSA  MULHOLLAND 
Banshee  Castle.  Illustrated. 

Crown  8vo,  $1.50. 

The  story  of  three  bright  and 
lively  youti^  girls  who  fall  heir  to 
an  o.d  ca^ile  in  the  west  of  Ireland. 
Their  struggles  to  live  in  it.  on  Jit- 
tle  money,  and  their  strange  expe- 
riences, are  deeply  interesting. 

Four  Little  Mischiefs.     Il- 
lustrated.    Crown  8vo,    75 
cents. 
"  A  charming  bright  story  about 

real  children." —  Watchman. 

Giannetta.     A  Girl's  Story  of 
Herself.  Illustrated.  Crown 
8vo,  $1.50. 
"Extremely  well  told   and   full 

of  interest.1' — Academy. 

Hetty  Gray :    Or,   Nobody's 
Bairn.    Illustrated.    Crown 
8vo.  $1.00. 
"Hetty  is  a  delightful  creature, 

piquant,  tender,  and  true. '' — Lon- 

</</»  World. 

The  Late  Miss  Hollingford. 

Illustrated.     Crown  8vo,  75 

cents. 

This  story  wa<<  a  special  favorite 
of  Charles  Dickens,  and  the  title 
was  chosen  by  him. 

By  MRS.  R.  H.  READ 
Dora :  Or,  A  Girl  without  a 

Home.    Illustrated.    Crown 

8vo,  $1.25. 

"  It  is  no  slight  thing  to  g°t  a 

story  so  pure  and  healthy  as  this." 

— Academy. 


CHARLES  SCRIBNER'S  SONS  153^5e7wFYfo?kAve" 


UNIV 


.  OF  CALIF.  LIBRARY,  LOS  ANGELES 


